Amnesia
by Vanessa Gordon
Summary: "Percy Jackson is at the other camp, and he probably doesn't even remember who he is." -TLH. MAJOR THE LOST HERO SPOILERS
1. Welcome to camp

I drifted back into consciousness. I was lying on something soft. Opening my eyes, I found myself lying on a grassy field surrounded by woods. I stood quickly, turning to survey the rest of the field. Something felt off. Last thing I remembered…

I didn't remember anything. Last thing I remembered I'd woken up a few seconds ago. I looked down at my shirt: green. Something about that felt wrong too. I reached into my pocket. Some trash, a pen, a few dollars_. Maybe I'd come from school? Did I even go to school?_ Something told me I did. The nearest underbrush rustled. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my pen. How this would help me, I had no idea, but something about it just felt right. Two kids came out of the brush. They looked around my age, not that I had any idea what that was, but both were wearing full battle armor. They looked at me.

The more intelligent part of my brain told me to run, but something didn't let me.

"_Quis es_?" demanded the nearer one, and I noted her high pitched voice. Unfortunately, I had no idea what she had said. Somehow I thought I recognized the language though.

"She asked you a question," snapped the other, his voice almost gravely, and much more aggressive. "Who are you?" I looked at him.

"I don't know," I admitted.

"Yeah right," snarled the guy again. "You're trespassing, so you'd better tell us before we call the police."

"I don't know," I repeated. "And you aren't calling the police." I wasn't sure how, but I knew he was bluffing. Maybe it was the battle armor. I was pretty sure you wouldn't call the police in it.

"You're right, we're not," he snarled, gripping his sword more tightly. "So you'd better tell us what we want to know." Half of me screamed to run, but I held my ground.

"Pick another question and maybe I can answer it," I told him. This didn't seem to satisfy him, and he moved in closer.

"You'd better…"

"Maybe he really doesn't know," suggested the girl. She was still standing towards the edge of the clearing, but I could see the tight grip on her sword. She wasn't just scared, she was keeping a perimeter.

"I don't think so Gwendolyn," the guy said. "But if I can't beat it out of him, I'll consider the point." He turned back to me and charged. I sidestepped, simultaneously pulling the cap off my pen. Probably to my surprise as much as his, it turned into a bronze sword. He wasn't deterred for long, but I parried his blow, then ducked as the girl, Gwendolyn, attempted to attack from behind. I swiped my blade in an arch, driving the guy back and coming around in time to block Gwendolyn's second swipe. I kicked her in the stomach, making her drop her sword and fall backwards across the clearing. I turned just in time to catch the boy's newest swipe on my blade. I saw an opening and took it, catching his sword's hilt with the point of my own and twisting it out of his hand. In a second I had my sword at his neck. The look of surprise on his face was eerily familiar. I felt that I'd received that look after performing that move before.

"Who **are** you?" Gwendolyn asked from the ground, clutching her ribs.

"I don't…" Suddenly a name floated into my head. Luke. "I'm Lu…" No, that wasn't right. That was not my name. I'd known someone named Luke, and they'd had something to do with the disarming move. "I don't know."

"Well, go ahead," growled the boy. "What are you waiting for?" Gwendolyn's eyes widened.

"No," she said. They both seemed to be expecting something, but I had no idea what. "Shut up Dom."

"I was going to kill you, so you're going to return the favor, right?" Dom snarled. Gwendolyn looked at him like he was a total idiot.

"What?" I asked, looking at him for a second. Immediately I realized my mistake. I dove, knocking Gwendolyn away from the sword she'd lunged for. We rolled into the bush, and my sword flew out of my hand. Gwendolyn tried to roll away, but I managed to pin her to the ground. Then I heard Dom running up behind us. So I did the only logical thing. I rolled to the side, throwing Gwendolyn into him. They collided and slammed into a tree, both falling to the ground. I snatched up Dom's sword and pointed it at both of them.

"Definitely a monster," Dom whispered to Gwendolyn.

"I am not a monster," I replied. As soon as I said it, I was sure. I was something else, a…

"Are you a demigod?" asked Gwendolyn. I felt my eyes light up.

"That's it," I said. "I'm a demigod. A half-blood." It felt like finding a puzzle piece.

"Well, out team's gunna be here any second, so I'd get out of here if I were you," Dom snapped. Teams in the woods? This was familiar…

"You're playing capture the flag," I realized. Dom and Gwendolyn looked at each other.

"How did you know that?" demanded Gwendolyn.

"I…I don't know," I repeated. There was more noise a few yards from me. I whirled just in time to see two more guys in battle armor charge out of the woods.

"Games over loo…" they stopped talking when they saw me. They both drew swords. I groaned. Why did they all have to be so heavily armed?

"_Quid agis_?" he asked, looking over at Gwendolyn and Dom, who I was watching in my peripheral vision.

"**I** might explain if you don't just blindly attack me," I answered before they had a chance to reply.

"Don't…" Gwendolyn started to warn them, but it was too late. The bigger one lunged, and I ducked, allowing him to slam into the tree behind me. I waited for the second to lunge, and he didn't disappoint, but his move was slow, slightly sloppy, and I easily dodged, slamming the butt of the sword into his head as he passed. He fell down on top of the big guy. Something collided with my arm and found myself engaged with Dom again. He knocked the sword out of my hand, but I didn't really mind. Instead I reached back into my pocket, where my pen was resting again. I wasn't sure how I'd known it would be back, but it was. However, I let Dom think he'd won.

"Not so tough now, are we?" he asked. I rolled my eyes.

"Dom…" Gwendolyn started to warn him, but I pulled out my pen and uncapped it again, knocking Dom out of the way and allowing him to land on the two other guys. Gwendolyn proceeded to attack. Her style was more controlled than Dom's, and more careful. We had sparred for a little while when suddenly a voice boomed over us.

_"Enough." _Gwendolyn withdrew, walking over to help the boys to their feet. I turned to face the voice to find a large wolf glaring at me along with fifty or so more teenagers. I capped my sword and put the pen back into my pocket. _"You will come with me, demigod."_ I didn't have to ask who she was talking to. _"You too."_ Gwendolyn fell into step next to me as we followed the wolf back out of the woods.

-)(-

I stood next to Gwendolyn in a tent, which, given all the maps and tactical layout, I took to be a mobile command center. Across from us was the wolf, which appeared to be staring me down.

_"What are you doing here?"_ she demanded.

"I don't know."

_"How did you get here?"_

"I don't know."

_"Who are you?"_

"I don't know." The wolf seemed frustrated with my replies.

_"I don't appreciate spies boy,"_ she snarled.

"I'm not a spy," I said. Well, honestly I might be. But you probably have to remember who you are to be a spy.

_"Then tell me who you are."_

"I don't know," I said. Something told me that she wouldn't let me go without the truth. "I woke up in a clearing about a minute before these two attacked me." The wolf seemed to smile.

_"You were trespassing. Gwendolyn and Dom were right to attack,"_ she replied. _Great, the wolf's overly aggressive too._ Then again, she was a wolf.

"Lupa, I believe he actually does not know anything," Gwendolyn announced. I wasn't sure whether to be thankful or offended. Lupa smiled at me again.

"_You must truly not remember anything to have a daughter of Minerva on your side,"_ she said. _"I will believe you for now. However, you must tell me your name."_ I closed my eyes, straining to remember.

"Perh…" Gwendolyn started to say something, but that was enough to jog my memory.

"Percy!" I exclaimed. Both Lupa and Gwendolyn looked at me skeptically. "My name's Percy." Lupa nodded.

_"Very well Percy. Gwendolyn, please explain the camp to him."_

"What?" Gwendolyn protested. "Lupa, he…"

_"For now, he is a pup,"_ Lupa replied. Gwendolyn nodded, and walked out of the tent. I hesitated a second, unsure of what to do, but Lupa jerked her head towards the opening of tent, so I followed. As soon as we out of ear shot of the tent, Gwendolyn rounded on me.

"You got a last name?" she demanded. I faltered.

"Not that I can remember."

"Well then Percy, this is camp," she gestured behind her. "You'll be in the last legion, number 12." She gestured down one of the groups of people down the hill. "Well, get going." With that, she turned around and walked in the other direction toward the first group of people. I slowly started down the hill. When I reached the group, all fifteen or so people glared at me.

"Uh… hi," I said, giving them a bit of a wave.

"Hi," a couple people replied half-heartedly. Everyone had changed into normal clothes, except they all wore matching purple t-shirts. A girl stepped forward.

"You're in the back," she told me. I nodded, and walked to the back of the group, winding up standing next to a different girl. Her hair was a rich brown, like wet bark, while her eyes blazed bright green.

"I'm Percy," I said, extending a hand to her. She didn't take it, regarding me skeptically.

"Listen Percy, if you want to be anybody in this camp, you want to pretend you never talked to me and focus on training," she told me, turning her head back away.

"Well, that doesn't sound like much fun," I replied, continuing to hold out my hand. She turned back to me and smiled.

"Terra," she said as she took my hand. "Welcome to camp."


	2. Test

After dinner, Terra told me she'd show me to the barracks.

"By the way, you've taken this whole thing very calmly," she told me.

"Well, freaking out isn't going to help me get my memory back," I told her. She laughed.

"I mean the gods existing," she replied.

"Oh," I replied. I wasn't sure of how I should respond. I kept having the feeling I already knew all this, but I was pretty sure I'd seem even weirder if I said that, especially seeing as most of the members of the camp already disliked me.

"Anyway, here's where you'll be staying," she declared, gesturing to a barrack. "Mercury's barrack, home for people of undetermined heritage. Though I don't know why you wouldn't have been claimed yet…" I swore I'd been through this before.

"So who's your parent?" I asked instead, dreading going into the barrack. She waved her hand, and the grass suddenly grew about a foot. "Demeter." She raised her eyebrow.

"Ceres," she corrected. "Well, I'm in her cabin anyway."

"But you control plants, you've got to be child of De…Ceres," I assured her.

"I know," Terra replied. "It's just that I never seem to have anything in common with my siblings."

"At least you have siblings," I blurted. Terra looked over at me.

"Just because you haven't been claimed doesn't mean…"

"That's not what I meant. I have the feeling I don't have siblings," I said. Terra looked at me uncertainly.

"TERRA ARE YOU OUT THERE?" demanded a voice. Immediately Terra jumped to her feet.

"Who's that?"

"Hazel, she's in the first legion, head of my barrack…" Terra trailed off. "I'll see you tomorrow!" I watched her sprint off before steeling myself and walking into my own barrack. I was met by a dozen or so burly kids. The biggest of them smiled at me slightly.

"Hey newbie," he said. I smiled back, hoping that they weren't planning to attack me. "You get over there." I looked over at my own little patch of floor, equipped with a blanket and all. I felt a sense of déjà vu.

"Looks pretty good," I said, smiling as I walked over. For some unknown reason, I was extremely tired. The guys looked at me in confusion, apparently not understanding my sarcasm.

"Did you really take on Gwendolyn and Dom?" asked one of them, walking over and plopping down on the nearby bunk.

"Yeah," I replied.

"How?" demanded another. I looked around at their faces. I appeared to have the undivided attention of the children of Mercury for the minute.

"Well, Dom attacked first, then I pushed him back long enough to kick Gwendolyn out of the way," I started to explain. They continued to stare at me.

"But they're first legion!" exclaimed a girl.

"How do the legions work anyway?" I asked, and my new barrack mates began to explain.

-)(-

The next day was training. I'd thought it would be horrible, but I kept having these impressions that I'd done everything before. A few of my trainers got angry with me for doing things "wrong." I'm not sure what their problem was, I was just doing what came naturally. They always seemed to look at Lupa when I did anything well. I had the feeling they knew something, or at least suspected it. After lunch, as we prepared for archery, I managed to talk to Terra.

"Hey, do you think there's something going on with the trainers and Lupa?" I asked. Terra looked at me.

"What do you mean?"

"Whenever I do something well, they give each other this weird look," I explained.

"You do things strangely Percy," Terra admitted. "You have been trained before this, I'm not sure how, but you have been." I nodded.

"I remember things," I agreed. "I don't remember much, but I've got these…instincts for fighting." She nodded. One of my barrack mates nudged me, and we all quit talking before out instructor came over. She was around our age, unlike the other trainers, who were mainly adults. She quickly instructed us to pick up our bows and start shooting. I quickly discovered one thing: I was horrible at archery.

Fortunately, I was in legion twelve, the legion of the new and the horrible fighters. So honestly, I wasn't that much worse than the rest. However, I'd barely shot five arrows when the instructor was at my ear.

"What is that, boy?" she snarled. I rolled my eyes, smiling slightly.

"You know we're about the same age, right?" She looked at me as though I was speaking another language.

"Such shooting will not be tolerated. Keep your elbow straighter and your legs even," she ordered.

"Yes ma'am," I said, proceeding to fire off a worse shot than my last five. She glowered at me.

"Are you being insolent?" she snarled. "Do you know who I am?"

"Well, I don't know who I am, so how would I…" The rest of the legion looked at me as though I had sprouted another head. I guess they didn't have much of a sense of humor.

"I am Reyna, daughter of Apollo, and you do not want to cross me," she snarled.

"I'm not **trying **to cross you…" I tried to explain. Reyna didn't seem to accept that.

"You will run around the field for the rest of the hour," she told me.

"Okay," I said, turning and running away. _Hey, anything beats archery._

-)(-

"Remind me what we're doing?" I asked for what must have been the twentieth time. Terra turned to me, rolling her eyes.

"Tace!" she snapped. I recognized the Latin, having heard it all week, but I still wasn't exactly sure what it meant. "I mean shut up."

"Seriously, why are we marching through the woods?" I complained. It's not that I really minded, but everything we were doing at this camp just seemed wrong. It was all just way to serious. What's wrong with a little fun?

"Lupa told us to," Terra replied. I'm pretty sure she was the only one at this camp who could stand me, at least openly. My barrack mates were pretty friendly in the barrack.

"Well why…"

"Will you just shut up?"

"Sorry." I frowned and continued to trudge after Terra. After a few minutes, she stopped and looked around, as though worried someone was following us.

"Listen, Percy," she whispered. "You're about to be tested. If you pass, you can stay at camp, but if not…"

"I'm guessing they'll kill me." Terra nodded grimly.

"You don't have to do this, you could just get out of here," she suggested. I shook my head. I had to do this. I wasn't sure why, but something told me that I was here for a reason. And I don't think I backed down from fights. "Well, be careful."

"I will," I replied. She smiled tensely, and led me out of the woods. In front of us was a large house, battle scarred. But something was wrong. One of Lupa's guards was lying on the ground in front of the house, bleeding, and yelping noises were coming from inside. "Is this the test?"

"No," Terra said, running to the fallen guard with me. She bent down and summoned some plants, wrapping them around the injured leg. I glanced down at her, and she nodded, so I kept running into the house. There was Lupa, standing across from a wolf-man. The wolf-man was accompanied by twenty or so large wolves, some of which were fighting Lupa's remaining guards, while most were surrounding Lupa.

_"Stay back, hero,"_ Lupa's voice growled in my head. _"You cannot let them touch you."_ Just then, one of the wolves lunged at Lupa from behind. Lupa fought back, but another wolf lunged at her while she was occupied. So I uncapped my pen and threw my sword through its head. I don't think I'd ever been any good at following orders.

This served to get their attention, though failed to do much to them. Apparently, my sword didn't work on these guys.

"So you were testing one of your 'heroes'," the wolf-guy scoffed. "Perhaps you'd like our help." Two wolves lunged at me. My brain shut off. I ducked under one, grabbing the other's snout and throwing it aside. The first scratched at my arm, but I didn't feel anything, and turned and bashed its skull as hard as I could. Then a third wolf tackled me from behind, and I rolled through the courtyard. The wolf opened its mouth, apparently intending to bite my head off. I got a sudden sense of déjà vu and images flashed through my mind. Hellhound, stream, trident over my head, pretty blond girl…

Then the wolf was seized by vines, and thrown backwards off me. The wolf melted into a puddle of shadow as I scrambled to my feet. Terra ran out from behind it, tossing me a silver dinner knife. I didn't have time to ask questions, since another wolf lunged. I rolled, stabbing its neck with my new weapon. It melted into shadow.

Kitchen knives: 2, swords: 0. The wolves were slightly more hesitant in their attacks now, but I kept up, swirling and ducking and diving. Finally one managed to get through and knocked me backwards, making me drop my knife. As I fell, I noticed a pool of water. I wasn't sure why, but the sight made me relax a little. I just thought that I needed to get the wolf off me, and there was a tug in my gut, and a wave splashed over the wolf, sending it flying backwards.

"How?" wolf-man asked, now standing behind severally diminished ranks, looking around wearily. Then his expression became angry. "You'll pay for this." He started forward, but a knife sprung from his left shoulder. He clutched his wound and fell backwards. His wolves caught him and ran away.

I got to my feet. I was tired, but there wasn't a scratch on me. I picked up my knife and walked over to where Terra was tending another of the guards.

_"Leave them,"_ Lupa commanded. _"If they were wounded by the wolves, they are already lost."_

"Not if I treated them with the right herbs fast enough," Terra replied, finishing wrapping the guard's leg in leaves.

_"You have become quite the healer,"_ Lupa noted.

"Yes," Terra replied, not looking up at her. Lupa turned to me.

_"A son of Neptune? Who are you, pup?" _ she demanded. I hoped her use of pup was a good thing.

"Perseus Jackson," I replied, not sure of how I recovered the memory. Lupa nodded and led us back out of the woods. There were the rest of the campers. My barrack mates gave me a small thumbs up like _"good job surviving!"_ Pretty much everyone else seemed indifferent, except for Dom who was scowling and Reyna who looked surprised.

_"Hail Perseus Jackson, son of Neptune,"_ Lupa declared. Déjà vu gripped me again as the campers gave me a respectful bow.


	3. Team Bonding

I seemed to have been accepted at camp now. I was now a member of the first legion, and people didn't scowl when I walked by- except for Dom, son of Mars. He was just a jerk according to pretty much everyone though. Since I was no longer sharing a barrack with anyone, I also got some time to think. I couldn't get the image of the blond girl out of my mind. It was like knowing who she was was just on the tip of my tong, but I couldn't get it.

And so I was thinking about the blond girl again as I ran around the practice grounds. Reyna had accepted that I was only going to make a fool of myself, or injure someone, if she continued to let me participate in archery, so I ran the whole time instead.

"Jackson!" I heard Reyna's voice snap. I whirled around to find her glaring at me. "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing," I lied. I didn't know why, but I was pretty sure my memories ought to be kept to myself.

"I would make you run for not paying attention, but you seem to enjoy it," Reyna remarked.

"Why does that always seem to be a problem with you guys?" I asked.

"One does not enjoy one's punishments."

"You people really need to…"I trailed off, an idea springing into my brain. "Can you gather the legion tonight? I have an idea."

"What are you going to do?" I knew she could gather the legion, she was, as far as I understood, the commander at the moment.

"Team bonding," I replied.

-)(-

That night, the legion gathered at the mess hall. I stood next to Reyna, with Terra on my other side. Terra had also been promoted to first legion when the story of fighting off the werewolves reached the campers.

"What are we doing here?" Dom snapped.

"Percy wanted to do some 'team bonding' tonight," Reyna replied. I swear she had no idea what I was talking about. All ten people turned and glared at me, except Bobby from the Mercury barrack and Terra.

"So I'm starting to think this camp is clinically depressed or something," I joked. No one laughed. "Anyway, I thought we should do something to raise moral." They perked up slightly at moral, I assumed because it was a military term. I turned and led them down to the beach (hey, I like water, alright?) where I'd started a campfire earlier. The rest of my legion mates looked at me skeptically, except for Bobby, who was grinning.

"I thought it might be…" I was pretty sure they wouldn't appreciate the word fun, "moral boosting, if we had a campfire." I'd actually gotten the idea from my faint memories of my past, but I didn't think they'd accept that either. "Complete with s'mores." Bobby grinned, pulling out three big bags of marshmallows, two boxes of gramcrackers and a dozen bars of chocolate. When I'd realized I was going to need someone to procure s'more supplies, I'd immediately thought of the son of Mercury. Well, I'd thought of a mischievous face with brown hair which closely resembled him anyway. He'd been perfectly happy to oblige.

"S'mores?" Dom scoffed. "What kind of…"

"Are the marshmallow's non-gelatin?" demanded Hazel.

"Course," Bobby replied. With that, Hazel grabbed a stick off the ground and snatched a bag of marshmallows.

"Chocolate!" Dakota, daughter of Venus, shrieked, snatching a bar away from Bobby. Gwendolyn gave me an approving smile as she opened a box of gramcrackers. I looked over at Dom. _Not such a stupid idea after all, right?_ He scowled and grabbed a marshmallow.

"Nice one Percy," Terra said, handing me a stick and marshmallow.

"Thanks," I replied, sitting down on one of the logs I'd set out (with a little more help from Bobby) and sticking the marshmallow into the fire. Reyna plopped down beside me.

"I'll admit this was a good idea," she said, taking a big bite of her s'more.

"Thanks," I said. She shook her head.

"I should be thanking you," she replied. "A leader should know how to keep their troops happy."

"So you _are_ the leader of first legion?"

"Temporarily." I nodded, and she returned to her s'more.

"Why is everyone around here so serious all the time?" I asked. I was pretty sure I shouldn't have, but I did. I guess that's the ADHD. Wait, I have ADHD?

"The same reason I'm temporary leader," she replied. "We're missing our leader, Jason Grace."

"Grace?" That name was familiar… Grace…

"Do you know him?" she demanded. "Do you know where he is?" I shook my head.

"No…I guess I had a friend named Grace or something," I mused. Her shoulders slumped. I couldn't help but wonder if this Jason guy was more that her friend.

"You really can't remember **anything**?" Reyna asked.

"Yeah," I said, pulling my marshmallow out of the fire. The blond girl appeared in my head again. Reyna got up to get another marshmallow, and I sandwiched mine between my gramcrackers. Terra sat down in Reyna's place.

"Any luck yet?" she asked.

"With what?"

"I know you're spending all the time possible trying to remember things," she replied, using her marshmallow stick to poke the fire forcefully. "Any luck?"

"Bits and pieces," I confessed. She nodded thoughtfully.

"That's good," she decided on finally. I raised my eyebrow. "Well, if you're getting bits and pieces, then your memories are still there, you haven't been dunked in the Lethe or something." I got a sudden flashback of dark water and pain in my shoulder. I think I **had** been in the Lethe at some point. "So your memories have either been suppressed or taken by someone. And if there are bits and pieces still there, then they probably intend to give you the memories back."

"How do you know so much about this?" I asked.

"Let's just say I sympathize with your position."

**A/N: Wow, I got such a responce to the first two chapters I decided to post this now. Thanks guys, you rock! Anyone have any things you'd like to see happen? Well review and tell me!**


	4. Answers

I walked into my barrack at around eleven. Over the last month I'd managed to get my fellow campers to loosen up, at least enough to miss curfew by an hour. I walked in and flopped onto my bed without looking around. Then I heard someone move behind me. I whirled around, simultaneously pulling my pen out of my pocket and uncapping it. A lady wearing a flowing white dress stood before me. Her chocolate brown hair was long and braided with gold ribbons.

"Hera," I said, lowering my sword. I had no idea how I knew who she was, but I did. She frowned.

"You recognize me, demigod?" she asked. I nodded, and she deepened her frown. "I see you still have _Anaklusmos_."

"Riptide," I translated out loud, noticing the Ancient Greek writing on the side for the first time. Hera smiled slightly.

"So, Perseus Jackson," she started. "You are fitting in here." I nodded, unsure of what she wanted. Then Terra's words flashed into my mind: _"…your memories have either been suppressed or taken by someone."_

"**You** took my memories," I realized. Hera looked surprised, but her expression softened and she sighed.

"Yes, I did. It was a necessary precaution for the task at hand."

"And what would that be?"

"I cannot tell you that," Hera replied. "Suffice to say that you have an important task."

"Why me?" I demanded. "You don't like me, and I don't really like you either." Hera sighed, resting her head in one hand.

"You **would** remember that," she grumbled. Then she removed her hand and turned to face me, her voice taking on an edge of danger. "Perseus, you must stop trying to retrieve your memories."

"Why?"

"I took your memories to keep you safe," Hera replied, ceasing to look as dangerous. "I will give them back to you in due time."

"Please, Lady Hera," I hoped acting respectful might get her to listen. She held up her hand.

"You must listen to me," she snapped. "I will not begrudge you memories that come back on their own, but you must stop spending your time trying to recall your past. You should spend time integrating yourself into camp."

"I don't belong here, do I?" I demanded. She sighed.

"I cannot tell you that. I just need you to promise to stop trying to retrieve your memories."

"I…" The blond girl flashed across my mind again. "I can't, Lady Hera."

"Why not?" she snapped.

"I just need to know one thing," I requested. Hera frowned.

"Very well," she conceded.

"The blond girl," I said. "Blond wavy hair, grey eyes, Yankee's cap, just a little shorter than me?" I took Hera's look of surprise to mean she knew who I was talking about. "Can you please tell me her name?" Hera sighed.

"Aphrodite will be insufferable after this," she muttered.

"Please Lady Hera?" I begged. I'd been obsessing over her face since the Wolf House. I just **needed** to know.

"Very well," Hera acknowledged, "But only if you swear that you will stay at this camp and try to fit in as long as is necessary."

"I swear," I replied immediately. Hera didn't seem satisfied. "I swear on the River Styx." Hera nodded approvingly.

"Her name is A-"

"Annabeth," I finished. I wasn't sure how, but I guess I'd really known the whole time. Hera nodded and disappeared. I closed my eyes as memories flooded back. _You drool in your sleep._ I pulled Annabeth onto a boat in the middle of a mirrored basin as mechanical spiders attacked us. Annabeth was riding piggy-back on a guy in a trench coat. She was dumping vitamins into a guinea pig cage while I squeaked furiously. The two of us were talking in some underground passageway. Annabeth struggled under the massive weight of…was that the sky? She sobbed into my shoulder at the bottom of some bay. _Seaweed Brain._ Annabeth lay on a chair, pale and bleeding, her shoulder faintly green. She was flying a helicopter. Annabeth collapsed into my arms, one arm sticking out at an odd angle. We sat on a bench, and she looped her arms around my neck. _I am never going to make things easy for you._ I opened my eyes and sat down hard on my bunk.

_Gods, Annabeth._ I realized my eyes were slightly moist. I'd been at this camp over a month. What would she think had happened to me? Did she have any idea where I was? Maybe I could call her or…

I couldn't. I had sworn to stay at this camp, see… whatever Hera had gotten me into through. It also didn't help that I had no idea how to contact her. I had flashes of places, but I had no idea where they were. I think it was somewhere near the coast, but there's a lot of coastline in the world.

"Percy?" Terra's voice asked. I looked up, and she was standing in the doorway.

"Yeah?" I replied, but my voice didn't come out right. It seemed to crack a little.

"You okay?" I nodded. She smiled, walking in and sitting down on the bunk across from me.

"Yeah right," she said. "What did Juno tell you?" I looked up.

"How did you…"

"I got here a few minutes ago, heard her voice and decided to come back later," she replied. I sighed. "She told you the name of the blond girl?" I really wished she wasn't so perceptive sometimes; I already had to deal with Gwendolyn being a daughter of Minerva. I felt another pang. Annabeth was a daughter of Athena. Terra was still gazing at me expectantly, so I nodded.

"Annabeth," I told her.

"Who was she?"

"My…my girlfriend," I told her. "She's going to be so angry…" Terra looked slightly surprised. "Wait, why were you using the past tense?" I demanded. Had something happened to her?

"No, I meant is, I just…" she trailed off.

"Terra…"

"I've really got to go Percy," she said quickly. "Hazel will be back soon. I'll see you tomorrow." She jumped up and ran out of the barrack.

**A/N: Hey, I wasn't kidding when I said I would appreciate hearing your ideas of what Percy should be doing at this camp! If you want to know about something specific (ie: training, how they eat meals, particular characters you'd like to see more of etc) then tell me in a review! -Vanessa**


	5. Secrets

At training the next day, I failed to find Terra. After we were done with archery (I had actually managed not to shoot arrows at the other members of the first legion this time!), I walked up to Reyna.

"Do you know where Terra is?" I asked. Reyna turned around.

"She's right…" she paused, looking surprised. "Uh, never mind."

"Have you seen her today?"

"Now that I think about it…I guess I haven't," Reyna replied. "Funny, if you hadn't mentioned it, I don't think I would have noticed." I frowned.

"I know we haven't been part of the legion for a while, but come on," I protested. Reyna glared.

"I know my legion Jackson," she snapped. I was a little worried I'd pushed too far. I was in better standing with Reyna since starting the campfires, but I figured I was walking a thin line. Just when I thought she was about to start yelling, she sighed and sagged her shoulders in defeat. "I don't understand how I didn't notice. I just can't seem to…"

"You're doing fine Reyna," I replied. She laughed.

"I was never a leader. That was Jason's job. I really don't think I'm cut out for this," she replied.

"I don't see why not," I replied. "I mean, we all listen to you, right?"

"There's more to being a leader than that," Reyna protested. "I mean, I can't keep people motivated or… You know, you're better at this than I am."

"I'm what?"

"You got the whole legion out of moping about Jason even though you'd only been here for a week," Reyna pointed out. Suddenly she looked thoughtful. "Maybe you were a leader of some sort before." I frowned, mainly because that sounded too familiar. However, between me being trained before and being a leader, I figured we might be getting dangerously close to my past Hera didn't want me to remember.

"I don't know, maybe I was on student council or something," I replied, shrugging.

-)(-

By the end of the day, I still hadn't managed to find Terra. She had also not been seen by anyone else in the first legion, including Hazel, her barrack leader. With her strange behavior yesterday, and her disappearance today, something was diffidently up. I decided that I should probably go ask Lupa. When I reached the entrance to her cave, Lupa came out, frowning (well, if wolves can frown).

"_What are you doing here?"_

"Terra seems to be missing," I said. "I thought that you…"

"Hey Percy," Terra walked out of the cave behind Lupa. I probably looked like an idiot because I was more than a little surprised.

"Uh, hi," I said.

_"Goodbye, Daughter of Ceres," _Lupa said. The way she said Daughter of Ceres seemed like a reminder or a warning. Terra frowned, nodded, and walked out of the cave and over to me.

"So what's up?"

"Um, where have you been all day?" ` "I just needed to talk to Lupa," she replied calmly. I felt my expression falter. _Had she told Lupa about my visit from Hera? _ Terra seemed to see my expression, and shook her head, grabbing my wrist and pulling me along with her down to the beach. Once we got there, she let go of my wrist and turned to face me.

"I'm pretty sure it's best if Lupa doesn't know about what happened last night," she said.

"Yeah, Hera basically told me that I shouldn't try to stick out," I agreed. "Why did we need to go all the way to the beach to discuss this?"

"Because Lupa could have overheard, or someone else who would then tell Lupa," she replied. "You may not be used to the atmosphere here at camp, but if you want to keep a secret, you really have to work at it."

"Speaking from experience?" I asked. Terra shot me a look that clearly told me she was diffidently speaking from experience. "So what were you talking to Lupa about?"

"Nothing much," she replied quickly. I raised my eyebrows. "I'm the world's worst liar, aren't I?"

"I wasn't going to say anything, but…" She laughed and wacked my arm.

"I'm still not telling you though." I pouted, and she laughed again. "It's not going to work Jackson. Now we'd better get back, its dinner time."

-)(-

After we ate dinner, Lupa sent the first four legions to one side of the mess hall, and the remaining eight to the other to prepare for capture the flag. As we started putting on armor, I found Terra.

"Um, what should I do?" I asked, realizing I had no armor. Terra finished lacing up the strings on the side of her torso and glanced over at me, her eyes immediately widening.

"Bobby!" she exclaimed. "We need to get Percy some armor!" Bobby rushed over, his half-fastened armor flapping wildly against his chest. He glanced at me.

"Oh crap," he said. "JULIA!" A brunet I vaguely recognized from first legion rushed over, already wearing full armor. She looked me up and down.

"Come on," she said, dragging me over to a large cabinet. She pulled out a set of armor, held it out to me, then yanked it back and pulled out another. "Put this on." I suited up without thinking twice about it, while she rummaged some more, emerging with a helmet that matched the rest of the first legion. She handed it to me, then started.

"You're suited up already?" she asked in disbelief. I glanced down, realizing that I had no idea how I'd fastened my own armor. I just nodded, plopping my helmet onto my head.

"You need a sword?" Julia asked. I shook my head. "Shield?"

"Nope," I said.

"Suit yourself."

"You're really good at that," I said, following her back into the group of the first legion.

"Daughter of Vulcan," she replied. "It's my job to be good with that." I nodded as we entered the middle of the group. Reyna was giving orders to the rest of the first legion, and three people with different helmets, marking them as the leaders of the second, third, and fourth legions. We were going to guard our flag, while the other three legions attacked. The rest of the members of legions two, three, and four were lining up into two rows, shoulder to shoulder. I frowned and grabbed Terra by the shoulder.

"Isn't that pretty predictable?" I whispered. She turned around.

"It's basically how we fight here," she replied.

"But what about how I met Gwen and Dom?"

"Protecting the flag," she replied. "Listen, we can discuss strategy once we start guarding the flag." I nodded and first legion marched into the woods back to the flag. When we got there, Reyna turned and faced the group.

"As usual, we're guarding the flag. Grab a partner and start…What Jackson?" I lowered my hand.

"Isn't this whole strategy really predictable?"

"Yes Jackson, but it happens to **work**, so unless you're saying we should try to **lose**, I think-"

"Couldn't we accomplish this much more efficiently if we just sent two pairs and had them sneak around and take the flag," I suggested. Behind Reyna, Gwendolyn grinned.

"A strategy worthy of Minerva," she commented. "I'm in."

"Lets to this!" Bobby exclaimed, pumping his fist into the air. The rest of the legion seemed to agree. Reyna looked around the clearing, then nodded.

"Alright Jackson," she agreed. "Bobby, Dom, Julia, Gwen, you guys have direct guard duty. The rest of you, spread out. Come on Jackson." I started to follow her out of clearing, but she turned and frowned at me. "And this is now on your head Jackson."


	6. Imperator

Reyna and I crept through the woods.

"We're going to close to the battle," I whispered. Reyna turned around, glaring.

"No, we're simply not wasting time by-" I yanked her down next to me as an enemy ducked through the woods patrolling. Reyna scowled.

"Guess you were right." I smiled, and took the lead as we navigated further from the main field and back towards the other team's side. Several minutes of walking later, we arrived at the edge of another clearing. The clearing was semicircular, flanked by a cliff on the side. The flag was up against the cliff, and surrounded by ten kids, whose helmets had V's on them.

"Fifth legion," Reyna commented.

"Yep," I agreed.

"And your plan is?"

"Take them out, grab the flag, run to the border," I suggested.

"Won't they just—"

"They can't alert anyone if one of us stays here and guards them," I retorted. "Or we can run really fast." She laughed.

"Really well thought out," she replied. Then she grinned. "Bet I'll take out more than you." I pulled Riptide out of my pocket, turning it back into a sword.

"You're on." We charged out of the woods. It took a second for them to react, and by that time I'd already managed to disarm one guy, and knock another to the ground with the butt of my sword. I ducked under a swipe, parrying someone else's swing. I lunged at the first one, slamming their side with the flat of my sword and knocking him to the ground. I spun to block the second guy's slash.

"Look out!" I heard Reyna yell. As I knocked the guy I was fighting's sword away, I felt something slam into my shoulder. I simply slammed the guy's hand with the flat of my sword, and he dropped his. I turned to find a very surprised girl, holding a broken sword.

"What in Pluto," she muttered, dropping the rest of the sword and holding up her hands in surrender.

"Percy, how…" Reyna started.

"Flag," I reminded her. She nodded, snatching the flag as I held the three guards still standing at sword point.

"Let's go," she said, running back in the direction we came from. I kept my eye on the remaining guards, as I backed out of the clearing, and then took off running after Reyna. We made it twenty or so yards before we heard the yelling start. Reyna changed directions, running towards the edge of the field.

"What are you doing?" I yelled.

"If they know we're coming, we should take the most direct route!" I couldn't argue with that, so I followed. We entered the edge of the clearing, sprinting for the boarder. That's when I heard the familiar hiss of arrows.

"Reyna, look out!" I yelled, tapping my wristwatch, grabbing her arm and pulling her down into a crouching position, throwing my arm over my head in defense. With three clangs, the arrows bounced harmlessly off my shield. Reyna glanced at me, her eyes questioning.

"Where did…"

"No idea, go!" We leapt to our feet, sprinting across the border, followed closely by the opposing team. The rest of our team stared at us for a second, then began cheering.

"Whooo!" Dakota and Hazel ran into the clearing, hugging me and Reyna.

"Yeah Percy!" I heard Bobby yell, and he tackled me from behind, dragging all four of us down to the ground, were we all burst out laughing.

-)(-

Once we all got up and were congratulated by Lupa, first legion made our way down to the beach for a celebratory camp fire. Everyone kept hugging me; because apparently my strategy had cut the time it takes to play capture the flag in half. Even Dom wasn't scowling. Soon everyone calmed down, and set upon the s'mores. I sat down on one of the logs, and Reyna sat down next to me.

"So," she started. I smiled, inwardly groaning. _Here we go._ "How'd you get that shield?"

"I honestly don't know," I replied. She raised an eyebrow, but seemed to accept it.

"And what the Pluto happened with that sword? That girl should have sliced your arm off!" I shrugged. Terra plopped down on my other side.

"What's this about Percy getting his arm sliced off?"

"A girl hit him with her sword right on the shoulder, and the sword **broke**," Reyna explained. Terra nodded.

"Wait, how are you not surprised?" I demanded. "How do you know this and not me?"

"Well, when we fought those wolves, the one scratched you, but nothing happened," she replied simply, munching her s'more casually. I frowned. I hadn't really thought about it at the time, but she was right.

"I suppose you have no idea why you're invincible either?" Reyna said. I had a sudden flash of Annabeth standing on a dock. _Remember your lifeline, dummy!_ I smiled slightly.

"Do you remember something?" Reyna asked. I shook my head. "Well, good job today. Your plan really did work better." I smiled.

"Thanks Reyna," I replied. "Probably the first time I've ever heard that." Both girls raised their eyebrows. "I…I don't think I usually get to make plans." Reyna shrugged.

"Okay," she said. "But you're diffidently a better leader than I am." I started to protest, but Reyna held up a hand and cut me off. "I said the game was on your head, and I'm keeping my word." She pulled an armband off her forearm and handed it to me. I took it, looking down at it. It was pretty worn, purple, and had a little eagle on it, followed by SPQR. I looked back at Reyna. She grinned. "Congratulations Percy." On my other side, Terra was wide eyed.

"What's this?"I asked. Reyna laughed.

"You're imperator of the first legion," she replied.

"Seriously?"

"Do I look like I'm joking?" Reyna replied, smiling. I smiled back and slid the armband onto my forearm. Then Bobby noticed.

"Percy!" he exclaimed, pointing excitedly at the band. I nodded. "WHOOOOO! Per-cy, Per-cy, Per-cy!" For the second time that day, I found myself surrounded by the cheering members of the first legion.


	7. Warnings and Trust

I guess I failed miserably at remaining inconspicuous like Hera had told me to. Especially the next month when I was made consul by Lupa, giving me power over not only my legion, but the whole Roman camp. What was really annoying was that none of this responsibility managed to faze me. I had the feeling that there was no way any of the responsibility they put on my shoulders, I had had a lot more put on me.

Regardless of my failing to become inconspicuous, I did at least manage to keep my past secret until I'd been at the camp three months. We had just finished dinner, and I was walking back to my barrack, because I felt an urgent need to take a nap. I had just lay down, when someone knocked on my door. I sighed, got up and opened it. On the other side stood Terra. I had to admit that I was pretty happy to see her. She'd been acting reserved for the past couple days, ever since she disappeared to talk to Lupa again. Whenever she looked at me, she seemed to be thinking. I stood aside, and she smiled and entered the barrack. I closed the door behind me, and sat back down on my bed.

"**Hey Percy**," she said.

"**What's been up with you the past few weeks**?" I replied.

"Me Hercule!" she exclaimed, kicking the bed post. "**How much of this do you really understand**?"

"**Why wouldn't I**…" That's when I realized we weren't speaking English.

"Na pari i eychi!" I had a sudden flash of Packman.

"Terra-" She walked over, staring me down.

"How do you know Greek?" she demanded. I shrugged, cowering into the wall slightly. For inexplicable reasons, something about her said quite clearly "do not cross me." "This is not good."

"Why isn't this good?" I asked, even though I had a feeling I already knew.

"Stercus," she said. "Malum, malum, malum, malum..." She backed off, sitting down on the edge of one of the bunks and running her hands through her hair.

"What are you talking about?" I said, watching her carefully.

"Te lingua Graece dicere potente, Graecus es, hospites Romae. Lupae te mittere puto," she said.

"Terra!" I said, waving my hand in front of her face. She blinked, and then shook her head.

"Sorry, I was just rambling." I probably should have asked why she rambles in Latin, but I was a little to freaked out because I had just spoken Ancient Greek.

"Why are you freaking out?" I asked.

"Percy, what's your dad's name?" she asked.

"Poseidon," I answered automatically. "I mean Ne-"

"No, you were right the first time," she groaned. "Percy, you're Greek." I scrunched up my face.

"What do you…?"

"The gods, they have both Greek and Roman forms. This is a camp for demigods born of the Roman gods," she explained, whispering as though this information was not to be discussed. "But you're born of the Greek gods, which is why you don't fit in here."

"How do you know that?" I asked, getting an uneasy feeling in my stomach.

"You've been trained before, right?" she demanded. I nodded hesitantly. "And you fight differently, Hera stole your memories and sent you here at the same time Jason went missing, and you speak Ancient Greek." I think she had a point.

"So that does make sense," I admitted. "But then do you know where I'm from?"

"Does the name "Camp Half Blood" mean anything to you?" Images flooded my brain, and then the world went black.

-)(-

"Percy?" I woke up to find Terra kneeling over me.

"Whoa," I said. "That was fun." She laughed.

"How much do you have now?"

"Well, I diffidently went to Camp-Half Blood," I replied, accepting her hand and letting her pull me to my feet.

"While I know it's good that you've got more of your memories back, but now we know why Hera took them in the first place," Terra said.

"What do you mean?"

"Um, the Romans and the Greeks don't really get along," she said. I raised my eyebrows.

"How bad could it be?"

"The last time the two groups met was the Civil War."

"Oh," I said. "That's pretty bad."

"The two groups aren't allowed to know of each other's existence. Hera is breaking** so** many rules by putting you here," Terra shook her head.

"Alright, so we just keep lying to everyone about what I know about my past." Terra nodded.

"Don't worry, I'm good about those types of lies," she said.

"Um, what do you mean by that?" I demanded. Her eyes flashed with concern.

"Just that I'm good with secrets," she replied. "What did you think I meant?"

"And if the two groups of demigods aren't supposed to know about each other, how do you know all this about the Greeks?"

"Well…" Suddenly, there was a bright flash behind us. We turned to find Hera standing there, looking distinctly angry.

"Lady Hera," I said, hoping playing nice would prevent her from smiting me.

"What do you think you're doing?" she snapped. I started to explain, but Terra cut her off.

"Talking to my friend," Terra snarled. I had to wonder if she knew who she was talking to.

"Uh, Terra, I wouldn't do that," I whispered, grabbing her arm to pull her behind me and out of harm's way. She shook me off, and continued her stare down with the Queen of the Gods. Finally, Hera turned to face me, sending one more furious look in Terra's direction.

"Perseus Jackson, you had been doing well," she sent another pointed glare at Terra. "I come with a warning. A giant emerges, and you must be the one to meet him." I will admit that I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. Terra on the other hand, looked horrified. "It appears one of you has some idea of what's going on. Good luck, Perseus." I'm pretty sure (from my slightly garbled and fogy memories) that's one of the only times she'd ever said anything nice to me. Hera turned to glare at Terra once more.

"Remember where your loyalties lie," she warned, then disappeared in a flash of blinding light.

"Come on," Terra said, leading me out of the barrack. I ran after her, catching her on the steps and blocking her path.

"Terra, what was all that?"

"I will explain the giants on the way, but we must go tell Lupa."

"On the way to where?" Hera may have given us a puzzling warning, but could she give us a location? No, _way_ too easy.

"Colorado," she replied easily. "Lupa will know the exact location better than I, now if you'll just let me through…" I grabbed her by the arm, preventing her from leaving.

"Terra, that's not all I want to talk about and you know it." Terra tried to pull out of my grip for a second, but then she dropped her shoulders and sighed.

"Percy, I can't explain what just happened," she said. "If I told you my secret, I'd have to leave, and I couldn't help you."

"Can't you…" I wasn't sure what I was going to say, but she cut me off anyway, looking straight into my eyes this time.

"I can only tell you that I do not mean Olympus or you any harm," she replied. "Can you trust me?" I stared back into her eyes. She wasn't lying, I could feel it somehow. I nodded. She smiled slightly.

"Thank you." I released her arm, and we ran to tell Lupa about Hera's warning.

**A/N: You guys are all sooo awesome. Thank you to all those who reviewed, each and every one of them has put a smile on my face and brightened my day. I should have another chapter up really soon, thanks for reading! -Vanessa**

**PS: Do you guys want me to tell you what all the random Latin means? I'd also like to apologise for any mistakes in the latin there, I think i might have constrewed part of it wrong... But if you want me to tell you guys what it means, tell me!**


	8. In Transit

We were now all crowded together onto two school buses, owned by the camp for transportation purposes. I still had very little idea as to what was going on, as Lupa had simply ordered us all onto the buses without telling us anything. Between the hubbub and commotion of this sudden departure, and then the fact that we all needed to sleep, we were now sitting on the buses somewhere in Nevada early the next day (our drivers weren't exactly following the speed limits), tired and stiff from sleeping on a crowded bus and irritated with our lack of information. I soon began to feel hostile glares directed at me, which is when I realized people were probably expecting me to explain what was going on, which was pretty rich because I was still waiting for Terra to tell me what the big deal was. However, I clearly had to do something, so I stood up, gripping the back of one of the brown seats for support. The bus went deathly silent, waiting for me to talk. I cleared my throat uncomfortably.

"Um, so I guess you're wondering what's going on," I started. I received an encouraging nod from Bobby, so I continued. "Well, Juno appeared to me last night to give me a warning. There's an imminent threat approaching, and we're on our way to the Rockies in Colorado to confront it." Thankfully Terra had at least managed to disclose that additional bit of information to me. "And now Terra's going to tell us more about this imminent threat." I sat down and turned to Terra, who frowned, but stood up and walked up to the front of the bus so she was standing right next to the driver. The driver offered her his radio so she could be heard on the other bus as well. She glanced around at us, her gaze somehow pitying, took a deep breath and began to speak.

"We have a new enemy, the Giants." Someone yelled "No, boo Dodgers" or something like that, but Terra silenced them with a merciless glare. "The Giants are the children of Gaea and Tartarus. They were born for one sole purpose: to destroy the gods in punishment for defeating the Titans. The gods fought them eons ago, and only barely survived. However, Gaea is rising once more, and has awakened the Giants. If left to their own devices, the Giants will destroy the gods, and Gaea will rise once more."

"So what?" a voice buzzed over the radio.

"Gaea is the earth," Terra said, her voice deathly serious. "She is manipulative, powerful, and very, very angry. She is, literally and figuratively, the mother of all evil. If she were to rise, it would be a thousand times worse than anything the Titans and Typhon combined could do." She paused, staring each and every one of us down, her vivid green eyes reflecting her words as she let them settle in. A minute of silence later, she continued.

"Giants have one particular thing about them. They cannot be killed by mortals or gods alone, but only through their cooperation. So I suggest that everyone prays to their parent for some help before we go into battle. Also, Gaea will not allow the giant to rise undefended. There will be monsters, as well as Earthborn, which are basically dirt-men that she can summon. They shouldn't be more dangerous than monsters, except they can appear out of the ground anywhere, so watch your backs." She paused as though trying to think of anything she'd forgotten, then nodded and sat back down. I stood back up.

"How long till we get there?" I asked the driver.

"Should be there tomorrow afternoon," he replied. I turned back to face everyone in the rest of the bus and pulled the radio to my mouth.

"So everyone should rest for the next day, because after that, I can't guarantee anything," I announced, realizing that I wasn't even sure if I could guarantee everyone would still be alive after this battle. "And remember, pray."


	9. Battle pt1

I climbed out of the bus, and walked over to the side of the road. The rest of the first legion followed me, since I was our new fabulous leader, at least until they figured out who I was.

"So what's the plan?" Reyna demanded. I looked up.

"I'm no child of Minerva," I replied. "What do you think Gwen?" She smiled when I acknowledged her.

"Well, if we assume they don't know we know they're here, then we should position ourselves around the clearing like so," she drew in the dirt to demonstrate, "Hiding in the woods so they won't see us. When the giant begins to emerge, first legion will go up the plateau to engage him while everyone else handles any guards."

"So we get to smash the giant?" Dom demanded.

"Yes Dom, we get to attack the giant," I replied. He grinned, and his two siblings high-fived. "Any objections to the plan?" Terra frowned.

"They might not be surprised," she said.

"We're going to have to risk it," Reyna replied. "If they know we're here, we're screwed either way."

"And how do we take the giant?" asked Hazel. "We'll need a god, right?"

"I'll worry about that," I replied grimly. "Suit up."

-)(-

We sat behind the shrubs grown by the children of Ceres for cover. We'd been here for nearly an hour; something was bound to happen soon. So far, there were a couple hundred earthborn milling around. We could handle that. Suddenly Hazel looked up. She and Terra were tasked with letting us know when something began emerging from the earth.

"Here we go," she whispered. I nodded and signaled everyone and held up my hand. As soon as I had everyone's attention, I waved my hand forward, and we charged. Most of the legions were fighting heavy infantry style, the style that had made Rome such an unstoppable force. They formed a tight line, shields forward, advancing in an impenetrable wall. The first legion, however, was dressed for mobility. We raced forward ahead of the rest, slicing our way through the earthborn on our way to the plateau. We got there, and could see the tip of the giant's head emerging. Everything was going according to plan. Then Hades broke loose.

"_Stercus_," Dakota cursed. I had to agree with her. According to what the terrain should look like, on the other side of the plateau was supposed to be a deep gorge. Instead, a wide valley spread in front of us, crawling with earthborn and monsters. Looks like Gaea decided to mess with us. If that wasn't enough, more earthborn sprung from the ground around us. I hacked one in half and caught another before it knocked Bobby's head off.

"Terra, Hazel, get your siblings and keep the giant down!" I ordered. I didn't really have much hope that some kid's of De…Ceres could fight the power of Gaea, especially since I doubted Hazel and Terra would be able to get any of their siblings from the other legions, but it looked like we were going to have to try. We were way too overwhelmed to deal with him right now. I decapitated another earthborn, and turned to face the onslaught of monsters. First up were a dozen or so hellhounds. I wasn't sure why, but I didn't feel so great about fighting them, well, until one attempted to chew Gwen's head off.

"It's not working!" I heard Hazel yell. I finished melting an earthborn back into clay before turning to look. The giant's was out of the ground up to his elbows, and while Hazel and Terra were doing their best to hold him down with vines, it didn't seem to be having any affect. It probably didn't help that they had to grown vines while protecting themselves from the attacks of earthborn.

"REGROUP!" I yelled, and we managed to gather ourselves together around the Ceres kids. We were now surrounded by earthborn, some hellhounds, and an angry half-buried giant. That had been the flaw in our plan. If something went wrong, the first legion wound up stuck in the middle of a giant force of monsters while the rest of the legions attacked from the outside. I could hear a battle cry from somewhere, and I really hoped it meant they were making progress.

"Now what?" Julia, daughter of Vulcan, demanded.

"Pray some more!" Bobby suggested, slashing at a hellhound.

"Die with honor!" Dom corrected.

"With honor," Reyna agreed.

"What in Hades kind of attitude is that?" I snapped. Everyone stopped for a second, forming a protective circle with our shields, and stared at me, which is when I realized I'd used Hades again. Whoops.

"It's what Lupa always told…"

"We don't give up," I said. "There's always a way and we'll just have to find it. No one is dying, and if I hear anyone talking about dying with honor again I **will **give your clean up duty for the rest of the year." Everyone looked pretty impressed. "Now let's go."

"Rome!" Reyna yelled.

"ROME!" we all cried, surging into the onslaught. I actually think we were making progress. We'd managed to fight our way about fifteen yards from the giant. Then I heard a scream and Hazel was thrown by me. I whirled to see an angry, free giant glaring down at Terra. Naturally, I ran to help.

Terra rolled out of the way as the giant tried to pound her with his fist. She sprung to her feet and stabbed his arm with her sword. He howled in pain, swinging his arm into her and knocking her backwards.

"HEY UGLY!" I yelled. He turned and smiled at me.

"Very foolish, son of Poseidon," he laughed. "You are no match for me."

"Oh yeah?" I asked. "Try me." He swung his arm down, which I managed to jump, but he hit me with the other one. I was pretty sure I should have broken every bone in my body, but I was all invincible, so I just fell backwards, losing my helmet, and hit the ground hard.

"You are no match for me, puny one," he announced, raising a foot to crush me. I leapt to my feet and stabbed his ankle instead. He seemed pretty surprised I was still standing.

"You don't scare me," I told him.

"Any why not? I am a giant, son of Gaea and Tartarus, only…"

"And I'm Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon," I cut him off. "After Kronos, nothing really scares me." I wasn't sure how I knew I'd fought Kronos, but when I said it I realized I had. Of course, I'd had a lot of help there. Now it was just me and a guy who couldn't be defeated unless gods and heroes worked together. But he didn't need to know that. "Olympus!"

I charged, dodging his initial attempt to grab me and ran up his arm. I climbed onto his shoulder, and stabbed him in the eye. He roared, knocking me off. I had a sudden flashback to a very angry Cyclopes. I was pretty sure he was going to crush me now, when Terra appeared on his other side.

"ENOUGH!" she yelled, and she raised her hands over her head and whipped them down again. The giant was immediately submerged waist deep in the earth. "Percy, now!" I grabbed Riptide, ran forward and slashed right through the giant's neck. His head fell off and rolled down the slight slope before melting into a pile of mud. I looked back. The rest of the first legion was standing in an empty plateau. The earthborn had disappeared, and the monsters had been disposed of. However, down on the other side of the plateau, it looked like trouble was brewing, because a different group was standing there, their armor Greek in design.

"Come on," I said, leading most of first legion (Julia was tending to Hazel, two kids of Mars were too injured to walk and our son of Apollo was taking care of them) down towards the budding confrontation.


	10. Battle pt2

**A/N: So you may have been wondering where all out lovely Camp Half-blood friends have been. So, here's Jason's POV.**

I will admit that following Juno's orders seems to get me into a lot of trouble. So why do I keep following them? Well, I guess that's just the kind of person I am. Anyway, Juno had sent me a vision telling me that another giant was going to emerge here. Well, apparently she was right. She just failed to mention the hordes of earthborn and monsters that were going to be here too. I guess it's a good thing Annabeth insisted we should bring most of the camp with us. And that's how we wound up in a valley that shouldn't be there (isn't it great when your enemy is the earth?) and in the middle of a full scale battle. We'd only made it halfway across the valley when all the earthborn vanished. The remaining monsters were disposed of quickly, or shadow-traveled away. That's when I realized Juno's real motivation for bringing us there: on the other side of the clearing stood Roman legions. The only problem was it looked like they were about to attack us. The campers (the Camp Half-blood campers) moved aside to let me through to the front of our new line, positioned two yards from the Roman line.

Unfortunately, it didn't look like anyone recognized me. I blame the six months of being missing and the full battle armor (including helmet). Anyway, they still looked like they were planning to attack.

"STOP!" an unfamiliar voice commanded. They lowered their swords as several more figures shoved their way to the front of the Roman line. I recognized them as my friends, the first legion. It wasn't really that hard because they didn't look like they were dressed for battle, they were only wearing light armor. However, at the front was a black haired guy. He kept his back to us, addressing the Romans quietly. I turned around and found myself in a circle of the councilors. I looked at Annabeth. She didn't exactly look great from the battle; she was missing her helmet and had a cut on her cheek, but she nodded to me.

"Act friendly, sheath weapons, no sudden movements," I instructed. "You guys should probably set up camp for now; I think I can handle this."

"That's comforting," Clarisse replied sarcastically, but she marched off with the rest of the Ares cabin. I frowned at her back before turning to Piper and Leo. Leo flashed me a supportive smile and Piper gave my hand a quick squeeze. I took a deep breath and pulled off my helmet before I turned and faced the Roman line.

Now that he had turned around, I recognized the black haired guy from the pictures. Percy Jackson. I couldn't help but be impressed. I'd been expecting him to be getting beat up. He'd managed to become their **leader** in six months? It also allowed relief to wash over me. Hopefully this meant I wasn't going to be alone in trying to get the camps to work together. That was of course, assuming he remembered.

"Hello," Percy said, smiling at me. I couldn't help but smile back. He held out his hand. "Percy Jackson."

"I've heard a lot about you," I replied, reaching out and taking it. "Jason Grace."

"That's it," Percy exclaimed, smiling. "You're Thalia's brother, right?" I nodded. "I should have known I didn't really have a friend named Grace."

"What?"

"Oh, just memories coming back in stange ways," Percy replied, still grinning. I swear this guy never stopped grinning. "I'm sure you know as much about that as I do."

"So you do remember?"

"Yep," Percy replied. "Took me a while but I finally remembered everything. Well, I think it's everything. Hera whipped your memories too?"

"Juno," I corrected.

"Hera," he maintained. I rolled my eyes. "So how long have you known?"

"A couple months. Juno returned my memories after the winter solstice because I helped to complete a quest for her," I explained.

"I suppose this has something to do with Rachel's prophecy?"

"We need to get the two camps to work together," I replied. He nodded.

"Oh, this is going to be fun," Percy laughed. "I'll get the first legion, you get the councilors?" I nodded, and he jogged over to where the Romans were setting up camp. I walked back over to the Camp Half-Blood line, and Annabeth was immediately by my side.

"What are we doing?" she asked.

"Councilors are going to meet with the Roman leaders," I replied. "And Annabeth…"

"I'll get the rest of the councilors," she anounced, rushing off before I could finish my sentence. It occurred to me that she was more nervous about this meeting than she was letting on.

-)(-

I lead the rest of the councilors back into the middle of the field. We had, in an attempt at a good faith gesture, changed out of our battle armor, looking vaguely coordinated in our orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirts. Annabeth was at my side as second in command, or maybe she was really in charge, I'm not exactly sure. We stopped, waiting for the Roman line. They appeared from the Roman camp a few moments later, wearing their purple t-shirts, but looking much more orderly in their identically colored dark denim jeans. Percy was at the front, flanked by…Reyna. They stopped a few feet from us, Percy still smiling happily as though the thought that this could turn into an all out battle hadn't crossed his mind.

"So, uh, hi again," I started, feeling really nervous. _What if this didn't work? What if my old friends and my new ones started fighting? Whose side would I be on?_ Then I noticed Percy's gaze was fixed squarely on the person to my right.

"Annabeth?" he asked softly. Her eyes light up and she sprinted forward. Faster than you can say "Athena" Annabeth had reached Percy and thrown her arms around him, nearly knocking him over backwards, and kissed him full on the mouth. I couldn't help but feel a little surprised. I mean, of all the times to kiss your boyfriend, when he's on the opposite side of a possible hostile confrontation doesn't really seem like a good one. Of course, I think the Romans were much more surprised than I was. I guess Percy hadn't exactly been sharing about his past, which really had probably been the only way he didn't wind up pummeled by the rest of the Romans.

Anyway, they broke apart after a few seconds (maybe because they realized they were in the middle of a half-hostile confrontation), and Annabeth curled into Percy's chest while he rested his head on hers. They appeared to be whispering to each other. The first legion stared at them uncertainly for another second, then looked around them at me.

"Jason?" Reyna asked, looking at me uncertainly. I looked up at them and smiled, only to be tackled by most of them. _Who were these people and what had they done with my serious, warlike friends?_

"Where have you been man?" Bobby demanded, ruffling my hair after pulling me to my feet.

"Are you okay?" asked Gwendolyn.

"What are you doing here?" Dakota continued.

"Who are these people?" Reyna asked. That's when I remembered_. Hostile confrontation, need to prevent people from killing each other._ I gestured towards the councilors.

"They're Greeks," I said. Bobby frowned, Dakota and Gwendolyn exchanged a skeptical glance, Dom (who hadn't hugged me, at least something hadn't changed) scowled.

"What do you mean by that?" Reyna asked.

"They're demigods, just of the Greek gods instead of the Romans," I explained.

"Weren't Greeks weaklings who…" Dom started.

"Unless you want to go another round to jog your memory, I wouldn't finish that sentence," Percy snapped, joining the discussion with Annabeth. Dom didn't object, but looked mildly confused.

"Jackson, what…" Percy locked eyes with me, and I nodded.

"I was sent to the Greek camp," I told them. Everyone's eyes returned to me. "That's where I've been for the past six months. Initially I couldn't remember anything, but we figured out that I was from the Roman camp eventually." I could see understanding flood their faces. Percy nodded.

"And I was sent to the Roman camp," he continued. "We both got our memories whipped by Hera."

"Juno," I corrected again before realizing we'd already had that arguement.

"Whatever," Percy said. "It was an exchange of leaders, because the two camps need to work together now." Annabeth nodded her agreement.

"We have to what?" Bobby said. "And Greeks, what…"

"I'm confused," interjected Dakota.

"I knew you were lying!" Dom announced.

"_Tace fatue_," snapped a new voice. I looked uncertainly at a brown haired girl standing next to Percy and Annabeth. I didn't recognize her from Camp Half Blood, but I didn't remember her from the Roman camp either. Dom scowled at her. Leo gasped, grabbing me by the arm and yanking me backwards.

"It's her!" he exclaimed, fire appearing in his palm.

**A/N: Cliff hanger, muahaha! Sorry 'bout not updating recently, but I've been buisy. I'll try not to leave you hanging for to long. In the meantime, try guessing who!**


	11. Daughter of

**A/N: INFORMATION DUMP: **

**-Imperator means general**

**-MissMaggieMAD: yes, I am in Latin**

**-Alice O'Hare: I do write with word**

**-Gazm Rules: Sorry, I'll try to not end the next one with a cliff hanger.**

**-All plot related questions: Keep reading!**

**All my fabulous readers, you rock! Shout-out to all me totally completely awesome reviewers!**

**Back to Percy, because I really love Percy…**

Terra dodged out of the way of a fire ball, and the rest of the Romans yelled angrily, beginning to surge forward before I'd even completely registered what was going on. I blame my slightly overloaded brain. I mean, I fought a Giant, found the Greeks, meaning I was now supposed to be standing between a hostile confrontation, and now this kid could throw fire? What the Hades was going on? However, I snapped back into reality when Dom and Clarisse nearly landed on top of me as they wrestled.

"Guys!"I yelled, watching the craze before me. Annabeth shrugged at me, Clarisse and Dom were rolling on the floor, Sam had Katie Gardner's arm twisted behind her back, until Travis Stoll tackled her from behind. Connor was busy fighting with Bobby, Reyna had tackled the flame-guy, Will Solace was fighting Julia, and some girl I hadn't seen before was pinned to the ground by Dakota.

"Hey!" Jason yelled before looking over at me as though I was supposed to fix this. _Great._

"EVERYBODY STOP IT!" I bellowed. After a few seconds, the punches stopped flying, and everyone slowly released each other. I pulled Terra back to her feet. Jason turned to the fire-dude, after Reyna released him.

"Leo, please explain in a **calm** way what you mean?" Jason asked. He glanced at Terra, and paled.

"Uh…I thought I thought it was Gaea," he said.

"LEO!" the brown hair girl snarled. Jason sighed.

"You what?" Reyna demanded.

"Well, we met Gaea on our quest," Jason explained. "Anyway, can we please at least **try** to keep it civil." With a bit of grumbling on both sides, everyone agreed.

"Sounds good to me," Annabeth announced from my side. "So what happened with the Giant?" She turned to look at me.

"Terra and I got rid of it," I replied simply. I could practically feel her confusion, which made me grin. She raised her eyebrow slightly at my grin, but kept her inquisitive expression.

"Are you sure he didn't just leave?"

"Percy chopped off his head and he turned into mud," Reyna retorted. "I'm pretty sure he didn't just leave. Do you not believe that they could get rid of the…" Annabeth scowled, tightening her grip on my hand.

"I'm in no way insulting your abilities," she snapped. "But a Giant can only be defeated by a hero and a **god** working together." I saw Julia frown. _Uh oh, Athena verses Minerva._

"We know that," she snapped. I was pretty sure Annabeth would win this argument, but it would probably be better to nip it in the bud. However, Jason beat me to it.

"Guys, focus," he said. Both relaxed slightly.

"Do you think you guys got some help from a god?" Leo asked. I shrugged; Annabeth shot him a "duh" look.

"Any idea…"

"Guys," Terra cut Jason off, stepping into center of the circle we'd formed. "We didn't have any help." Annabeth looked like she was going to argue, but I gave her hand a squeeze to stop her. "And you shouldn't blame Leo for his mistake earlier. It's an unfortunate family resemblance."

"What?" For once both sides bonded together in their confusion. I could feel Annabeth's mind whirring.

"So…my mom isn't Ceres," Terra started, holding up her hand to stop the round of protests. "And it's not Demeter either. My mom is…Gaea." She turned to me, smiling in a forced way. "Sorry. I'll be dealing with the wrath of the gods if you need me." Then she disappeared. We all stood in shocked silence for a minute.

"WHAT?" Leo exploded. Annabeth's mind continued to whirl.

"You had a daughter of Gaea with you?" Clarisse growled at Dom, who she was still eyeing viciously.

"Can Gaea even have half-blood children?" asked Reyna, looking as confused as I could tell Annabeth was. Personally, I was just shocked. I mean, Terra had said she had a secret, but…hadn't she said Gaea was the "mother of all evil"?

"I don't think so," Annabeth replied. "How long has Terra been at your camp?"

"Um…" Reyna looked confused, like she had the day I'd asked her where Terra was and she hadn't noticed she was missing. "Well, I'd never really paid her any attention until you two fought the wolves." The rest of the Roman campers looked as uncertain.

"But at the same time, I don't think I can remember when she came to camp or anything like that," Bobby said. Jason seemed surprised.

"Really?" he asked. Bobby nodded. All the Greeks were looking at them, so Jason explained. "Bobby's been at camp for almost nineteen years." I could see the logic. If anything, I'd say Terra was Nico's age, a few years younger than me, but diffidently not four years older. Annabeth's hand tensed ever so slightly.

"What?" I asked. She grinned at me briefly before replying.

"You don't think she might be immortal?" I have to admit, I wouldn't have thought that. But now that she mentions it…

"She didn't have any scratches," I realized. This got me a similar look to what I would expect if I hugged Clarisse. "When we fought the wolves, I wasn't hurt because, well…"

"The curse of Achilles," Annabeth finished for me. I noted several raised eyebrows in the first legion, but decided to continue.

"I didn't notice at the time, but she didn't have any wounds either." Julia frowned.

"I think that's pretty flimsy evidence on which to base the hypothesis that Terra is immortal," she said. Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"She looks younger than she could realistically, she doesn't get hurt, and Gaea can't have half-blood children," she summarized. "What more evidence do you need?"

"Maybe Bobby's forgetting, she just didn't get hurt, and that's only as far as we know," Julia replied. "So yeah, I need more evidence than nothing."

"I have a pretty good memory!" Bobby protested. Jason groaned.

"Even if we can't seem to stop fighting between the two camps, can we at least try to get along amongst ourselves?"

"Plus, I think the daughter of Gaea is our primary concern at the moment," said the brown-haired girl next to Jason.

"Terra's on our side," I retorted, crossing my arms and glaring at the girl. She frowned.

"Listen, I've met children of Gaea, and I really don't want to deal with another," she replied, putting her hands on her hips in an aggressive stance. "Or do you not have a problem with Gaea rising?"

"If you want someone who's dealt with Gaea's kids, let me remind you that the Titans are Gaea's children," I replied gruffly. I didn't know who this girl was, but her tone made me pretty angry.

"Exactly," she replied. "If we look at Gaea's children, we've got the Titans and the Giants. Why on earth would we want to deal with another one?"

"I'm pretty well acquainted with the Titans," I replied simply. "And I've dealt with a couple of Gaea's other kids as well. However, people aren't dictated by their parents, and if Terra wasn't on our side, she'd have done something to us by now." I glared at her, waiting for the contradiction, but it didn't come. She seemed to have frozen at me comment about parents. Finally, Reyna stepped forward.

"It's getting dark now and I'm sure we've all had a long day, so why don't we all sleep and reconvene tomorrow," she suggested.


	12. Reunion

**A/N: Warning, this chapter might be pretty fluffy, but I needed to put in Annabeth and Percy's reunion because it doesn't seem realistic that they'd just sudenly be back to normal after not seeing eachother for three months.**

I didn't walk back to one of the two camps. I didn't really know which one I was supposed to go to anyway. Instead, I waited for everyone to leave, and walked across the field until I reached a large rock in the woods just off the field, but still within view just in case someone needed me. I sat down, leaning against the rock. I really needed to think.

I know I probably should have been ecstatic to see my friends again. And I really was, but it was just that things were so… complicated. If the camps started fighting again, which side was I on? I couldn't fight against Camp Half-Blood, but I don't think I could fight my Roman friends either. Also, was I still the leader of the Roman camp now that they knew I was Greek? Oh, and Annabeth. Sure, she'd been happy to see me and it had felt great to be with her again, but any minute now the surprise of seeing me would probably wear off and then I'd be running from one pissed daughter of Athena.

And then there was Terra. I meant what I said about people not being dictated by their parents. I mean, look at Chiron! Or Zoë and Calypso. Their parents were awful, but they were nice people. Well, once you got on Zoë's good side at least. But she diffidently complicated things. At the best, it would probably create some general skepticism of everyone's loyalties. At worst, it could be taken as proof that the Romans are traitors by the Greeks. Or, at really worst, Terra could actually be on her mom's side and kill us all.

I was interrupted from my pleasant thoughts by approaching footsteps. I glanced up to see that no one was there.

"Hey Annabeth," I said. She shimmered into my view, holding her magic Yankee's cap and smiling.

"You remember the cap?" I laughed slightly.

"Course I do," I said. "It'd be pretty hard to explain how you manage to appear out of thin air without it." She sat down next to me slightly awkwardly.

"So…" she said. "Uh, how have you been?" I guess you'd think it was weird we were being kind of awkward, seeing as we'd already kissed, and held hands for most of the meeting. But that was mainly about just being happy to see each other again, and we'd only been able to talk long enough for me to explain that I did remember her, and to say I missed her. Now that we were alone for the first time in months, and actually had to address what had been going on, it was…well, pretty weird. Not to mention I wasn't entirely sure this wasn't going to end in an angry tirade by Annabeth.

"Uh, amnesiac...ical?" She laughed at my attempt to turn amnesiac into an adjective. "How's camp been?"

"Stressed," Annabeth replied. I raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Well, first we were searching for you, then that whole thing with Hera being kidnapped and Jason happened, and now we need to build this giant boat in time for the summer solstice…"

"What?" Annabeth's expression faltered for a second before she realized I had no idea what she was talking about. She quickly explained the details of "that whole thing with Hera being kidnapped and Jason," and how it resulted in the conclusion that they had to build this boat that Leo, the fire throwing kid, had thought up, to take the seven chosen ones from Rachel's prophecy to Greece. After she finished, we settled into silence. I couldn't help but wonder if there was some sort of accepted protocol for breaking awkward silences with girlfriends you haven't seen for three months because you were sent to a camp on the other side of the country with memory loss. I figured there wasn't.

"Gods, why doesn't it ever end?" Annabeth demanded finally. I looked over at her, to notice with surprise that her eyes were slightly moist. She was glaring straight ahead of her.

"Annabeth…" I started, but she continued.

"I thought that maybe we would finally get some peace for once, just get to be normal, but no, now the world's back in jeopardy," she said bitterly. I nodded.

"I know," I agreed, resting a hand on her shoulder cautiously. She turned her gaze to me. "It's not fair, but since when has life been fair?" She laughed hollowly, brushing an escaping tear from her face.

"Thanks for the cheery outlook, Seaweed Brain." I smiled.

"Never thought I'd miss that," I said, removing my hand from her shoulder. Suddenly, she winced. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she said, whipping away another stray tear away from the cut on her cheek.

"What happened?" I asked, reaching out and touching the cut with my hand. Her eyes locked on mine, and I didn't wait for an answer, instead I brought my lips to hers.

The kiss started hesitantly and slowly, contrasting with the urgency fear and anxiety of our last one. Annabeth looped her arms around my neck, twisting her hands into my hair, and deepening the kiss. I removed my hand from her cheek, instead circling my arms around her waist and pulling her in closer to me. It was as though the rest of the world had ceased to exist, and it was just the two of us. We broke apart but kept our foreheads pressed together, both breathing heavier than usual.

"Gods, I missed you," I whispered. Annabeth grinned.

"I missed you more."

"Does everything have to be a competition?" I pretended to whine.

"You're just jealous because I win them," she replied, giving me a quick peck on the lips before removing her arms from around my neck and resting her head against my chest instead. I readjusted my arms around her so she'd be more comfortable and lay my head against hers. "So what have you been doing all this time?"

I launched into an explanation of everything that had happened to me at the Roman camp. At the part about fighting wolf-man and his wolves and my flashback about the hellhound, she pulled herself more firmly into my chest. Her only comment about my s'mores team bonding was "you would." When I got to Hera's first visit to my barrack, I felt a few tears leak onto my shirt and Annabeth muttered, "hate her." She was really amused by my victorious strategy in capture the flag, but just said, "of course," when I explained how it had gotten me made imperator.

"Why of course?"

"Oh, stop being modest, Jackson," she growled, but I could tell by how she didn't move from her position on my chest that she wasn't really annoyed. "Keep explaining." So I continued with the rest of camp. By the time I got to Terra and I speaking Greek in my cabin, it had gone from late afternoon through dusk to just night. Annabeth nodded slightly into my chest when I explained about Terra's muttering in Latin. I stopped once I got to the part on the bus because I assumed it must be pretty late.

"Annabeth?" I said when she didn't react, which is when I realized she was asleep. I grinned, shifting backwards slightly so I was leaning more comfortably against the rock. Annabeth grumbled sleepily into my chest, and I grinned wider as I rested my head back on hers and closed my eyes comfortably.


	13. Terra's explanation

**A/N: Thank you to Anime Princess for telling me I was mixing up Julia with Gwen, because you were right! I'm sorry, but I origionally named Gwen's character Julia, but I decided to change her name to Gwen to fit with the names Rick Riordan gave us in TLH. Then I named the daughter of Vulcan Julia, and then when all the Greek characters came, I was overwelmed and got confused. Sorry! I've gone back and fixed it now, so everything should be better! **

"Found him!" I faded back into reality to the sound of Bobby's voice. I shifted slightly, barring my face in Annabeth's hair. I really didn't want to wake up and return to the messed up world that was reality.

"Where was…" Reyna trailed off, her footsteps stopping at the edge of the field.

"Now what?" Bobby asked in a whisper.

"Maybe we could get Jason to wake them up?" Reyna suggested. I couldn't help but smile. Clearly they knew how annoyed I'd be if they woke me up. Course, they didn't know I was up already. This should be interesting to listen to.

"Why don't we just throw a bucket of water on them?" Dom suggested helpfully.

"He'd better not," Annabeth muttered into my chest. I smirked.

"You know I don't get wet anyway," I told them, reluctantly lifting my head from Annabeth's hair. All three of them started, and Dom looked mildly worried.

"Oh, uh hey Percy," Bobby said, smiling in a forced way. I smiled back, yawning slightly and removing my arm from around Annabeth. She frowned up at me, but allowed me to get up, pulling her with me.

"What's up?" I asked. Reyna and Bobby glanced at each other.

"Uh, I'll go tell them we found him," Dom said, bailing out of the conversation and running back towards the field.

"We were just wondering where you went last night," Reyna said, glancing at Annabeth.

"Well, we kind of fell asleep out here," I replied. I noticed Annabeth looking skeptically at Reyna and Bobby. "Oh, right, uh, Bobby, Reyna, this is Annabeth, my girlfriend." They nodded.

"Nice to meet you," Reyna said. Bobby smiled, then walked over and ruffled my hair slightly.

"So you've been holding out on us Perce?" he joked. I laughed.

"Well, you know, something about gods making you swear on the river Styx keeps you from sharing," I replied.

"Not to mention that we might have attacked you for being Greek," Reyna said sheepishly. Annabeth tensed slightly at my side, but I grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze.

"Yeah, and that," I agreed, continuing to smile. Later I'd explain that jokes tended to be much more violent in the Roman camp. And I could hardly hold it against them for being truthful.

"So what are we going to do about Terra?" Reyna asked. Just then, there was a bright flash and Terra reappeared, still wearing her jeans and purple t-shirt. She started over towards them, muttering under her breath. Suddenly, the sky thundered.

"Oh, shut up," she yelled, stopping and glaring at the raincloud. "Leave me alone."

"Uh, Terra?" I said, getting a glare from all three of my companions. She turned back around, smiling in a frustrated way.

"So, decided not to kill me on sight?" she asked, falsely cheery. She looked up again. "See, some people aren't prejudiced idiots!" More thunder. I looked at Annabeth, who shrugged, but looked slightly alarmed.

"Uh, are you having an argument with Jupiter?" Bobby asked, looking slightly worried.

"A very overdue argument," Terra replied.

"You wouldn't want to explain this, would you?" Reyna asked.

"That is **exactly** what I want to do," she replied, smirking at the sky. "Let's gather back up the leaders."

-)(-

A few minutes later, we were all gathered once more in the middle of the field. As Terra stood to talk, several people began muttering, but she silenced them with a glare.

"So I owe you an explanation," she began slightly nervously. "Like I said before, my mom's Gaea, which may worry you because she's very, very evil. However, I can assure you that I honestly have no affection for my mother. I would also like to apologize. I've been lying to you for years. Not that I wanted to, but that's beside the point. The Greek descendents here are probably thinking that my apology is unnecessary because I wasn't at your camp. However, I was at your camp, just before any of you were there yet." She paused, staring down at the ground for a second before continuing. "As you have probably figured out, I'm immortal. I've spent the past two thousand years lying about who I really am because the gods felt threatened by me. But now that my mom's trying to rise along with some of my…less desirable siblings, I thought that I could probably be more use in the open. Your parents don't agree with my decision, and you all disserve to know that they are going to be fairly angry if I stay around here. That's pretty much everything, unless you have any questions?" Terra stopped her speech, looking around at all of us. There were more than a few frowns, and a few alarmed expressions at the mention of angering the gods.

"Who's your dad then if the gods don't like you?" Dom demanded. Terra rolled her eyes.

"That's just going to confuse you," she replied.

"How do we know you aren't trying to hide who your dad is to?" Clarisse demanded. Ah, of course the children of Ares make a mess of things. Terra scowled.

"Fine," she snapped. "My dad's Geb. And I'm betting no one here can tell me who that is." I immediately glanced at Annabeth, who seemed quite puzzled.

"Julia?" Reyna asked. Gwen shrugged.

"No one I can think of."

"There isn't a Geb in Greek mythology, is there?" the brown-haired girl I'd argued with earlier said. Annabeth shook her head.

"I remember that name from somewhere," she offered. "I just don't remember where." Terra shook her head.

"Don't bother, it's both unimportant and likely to just confuse you," Terra said. "So, moving on to slightly more pressing problems…" Thunder cut her off. She scowled, but continued. "I now need to go get yelled at again for telling you guys something else I shouldn't have." And she disappeared again, leaving us only slightly less confused than before, muttering something like "Manēne…"


	14. coconsuls

**A/N: Sorry i haven't been updating, but life's pretty buisy right now. I'm also sorry this chapter is pretty short, I swear more interesting stuff is to come!**

"So what do we do now?" Leo asked. "We won't know who's going to Olympus for another two months, so are we just going to sit in a field for two months?"

"We should go back to camp," Jason suggested. I nodded in agreement.

"Which camp?" Reyna asked, looking between the two of us. We glanced at each other, but Dom interrupted our thought process.

"Which of you is in charge anyway?" he asked. I groaned, figuring this would be a loaded question. Mingled shouts of "Percy" and "Jason" confirmed my suspicions.

On the upside, the divide wasn't purely Greek/ Roman. Most of the Greeks were on my side, but Leo and that brown haired girl were both on Jason's with the first legion except for Bobby and Gwen.

"Guys!" Annabeth protested, but was ignored as the argument continued. I glanced at Jason, and he nodded.

"Everybody shut up!" we both yelled, forcing the bickering campers into silence once more.

"We'll both be in charge," I said quickly, hoping this would calm the fighting for the minute.

"Yeah, co-consuls," Jason agreed. Everyone agreed. On the upside, it looked like we were back to not fighting. On the downside, everyone now seemed to think Jason and I were going to tell them what to do.

"We're all going back to Camp Half Blood," I said, and Jason nodded. I smiled glad I'd been right about what he was thinking. "So we can work on…Leo?" Leo nodded. "Leo's boat until we need to go to Greece." I glanced at Jason.

"So, uh, let's just stay here for the rest of today and try to get to know each other a bit and we'll set out tomorrow," he added. The Greeks and the Romans regarded each other skeptically, and I had a feeling the getting to know each other might be a little while in coming. So naturally, I turned to Jason.

"So what kind of stuff do you like to do?" I asked, hoping this might get conversation going. On the upside, this did manage to get the two lines to move slightly more towards each other and start talking a little. On the downside, I'm pretty sure that was the stupidest, most awkward question I'd ever asked. Jason looked at me slightly skeptically.

"Uh…I don't know…stuff?" he replied as we walked slightly away from the main group, hoping that us not being there would force them to mingle among themselves. I nodded, trying to think of things that I had in common with him.

"What's the plan for the whole Greece thing?" I settled on.

"Oh, you don't know yet?" he asked. I shrugged. I mean, Annabeth had pretty much explained, but so far, I think Greece was all we had in common. "Well, we're going to leave in early June to get to Greece by the summer solstice on Leo's flying boat, the Argo II. Rachel figures that the seven half-bloods will become evident by the time we leave." I nodded.

"So how is Rachel?" I asked. Man, this was awkward.

"She's interesting," Jason said. "I'd never met an Oracle before. Of course, she's at school right now. How was camp?" I considered slapping myself. Duh, we could talk about the camps. Wow, I really was a Seaweed Brain.

"Well, pretty good after Lupa decided not to kill me." Jason laughed.

"That's always good," he replied. "So your test went well?" I shook my head.

"Oh no way, nothing around me ever goes normally," I replied, earning another laugh from Jason. "No, but I stopped Lycon from attacking Lupa…"

"Lycon?" Jason asked. "How'd you do that?" I laughed.

"Silver dinner knives."

"Oh, very smooth," Jason teased.

"Because, comparatively, you had such a great plan," a new voice announced as a black haired girl dressed in silvery clothes with a sliver circlet in her hair walked out of the woods and ruffled Jason's hair. He frowned slightly.

"Well, the fire thing was working," he protested indignantly, but then he smiled and gave her a hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, if you're having a powwow, I figured the hunters should show up," Thalia replied, turning to me. I smiled slightly.

"Hey Thalia," I said. She punched my arm, and I winced slightly to appease her. No need to remind her that I was invincible and therefore that didn't really hurt, because it'd just make her madder.

"Don't do that again Jackson," she growled. I grinned at her.

"Yes, mom," I replied. She frowned, then laughed and pulled me into a hug.

"Don't push your luck, Seaweed Brain, I'm still mad at you on Annabeth's behalf," Thalia announced after she released me.

"Wouldn't dream of it, Pinecone Face," I replied jokingly. She laughed. Jason glanced between the two of us as though we were mildly insane, which I think the argument could be made that we were. But only **mildly**.

"So," Thalia smiled at the two of us. "What have you guys been up to?" Jason and I exchanged a glance.

"Well…"


	15. Pillows

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for not updating recently, but I'm:  
a) really buisy right now  
b) sort of in a lull in the story and I wasn't really sure where I wanted to take the story, because origionally it was going to end after the two groups met. So I've been trying to determine where this was going to go, and now I've figured it out. This chapter might not seem like it's going anywhere, but I swear it will start going somewhere soon (I'm not telling you where exactly, but it'll probably be somewhere in Greece hint hint). -Vanessa**

I leaned back against the wall, closing my eyes and relishing the salty smell of the Posidon Cabin. I sighed contentedly, letting the silence settle. Silence was pretty rare at Camp Half-Blood at the best of times, but lately things had been even more chaotic than usual. To start with, there was a direct corolation between number of people and level of noise, and the Roman's more than doubled the number of campers. To add to the population increase, most of the non-year-round campers had returned in case camp was attacked. When you added the constant construction on the Argo II by the Hephestus/Vulcan cabins and the **near** constant shouting by the Mars/Ares kids, and you got one noisy camp. But it was after curfew now, and tomorrow was March 30th, so everyone was getting some rest.

The last couple months had been pretty crazy. Once we'd gotten back to Camp Half-Blood, I'd had to juggle the reactions of everyone who knew I was missing, (ranging from being tackled by Grover, to nearly choked to death by my mom, to being knocked on my face with a grudging "Nice to see you Jackson" from Clarisse) and the random outbursts of fighting between the Greeks and the Romans. After the novelty wore off, the two groups started to get to know each other, and I'm not entirely sure that made things much better, because now we had twice the loud, noisy Ares (and Mars, I know, but I'm Greek, so sue me) campers, twice the annoying, flirty Aphrodite campers (except Piper, the new consler, who wasn't half bad), and the Hermes campers had taught the Mercury campers some of the signature pranks. It was getting pretty hard to deal with really.

Suddenly, someone knocked on my door. I opened my eyes.

"Come on in," I said, sitting up on my bed so my legs leaned over the side while passively wondering who it was. The door opened and a pale black-haired kid walked in, dressed in black jeans, black converse, a black aviator jacket, and a black t-shirt with a skull on it. Classic Son of Hades.

"Hey Percy," Nico said, grinning at me.

"Hey Nico," I replied, glancing at the clock on my bedside table. "What brings you to my cabin at eleven at night?" He chuckled, sitting down on the bed across from me.

"Well, you know me…" I rolled my eyes.

"Nico, if you don't sleep, you'll pass out eventually."

"I sleep, but no one ever said you have to sleep during the **night**," he retorted. I lay back on my bed.

"Nico, go to sleep."

"Always good to feel welcomed," he replied sarcastically. "But seriously, Percy, I'm worried." I sat up, staring at Nico. Nico wasn't the type of person who admitted something like that, so I figured I should be worried.

"What's wrong?" I asked. He frowned, as though struggling with something.

"It's just… we only just got you back," he said, glancing up at me. I stood up, walked over, and sat down next to him.

"I'm not going anywhere yet," I assured him.

"But the prophecy really doesn't sound good," Nico complained. I rolled my eyes.

"So you weren't really worried about "hero's soul cursed blade shall reap," but…"

"An oath to bear with final breath," Nico replied. "How's that supposed to make me feel better?"

"Nico…"

"Percy, you're really my only friend," he cut me off. "So just…" I put an arm around his shoulders.

"Hey, don't worry about me," I said. "I'll be fine." Then I withdrew my arm, and ruffled his hair. "Now quit being all mushy on me or I'm going to start worrying." He laughed, shoving me.

"I wasn't being mushy!" he protested.

"Yeah right Nico, any more mushy and I'd start thinking you were a daughter of Aphrodite," I joked.

"Hello," someone announced. I looked up, and a girl was standing in the middle of the room. She wore a deep green skirt that went down to her mid thigh over brown tights, with a green and brown tight fitting long sleeve shirt. To fit her color scheme, her brown hair had green highlights through it, and her lace-up military style boots were also brown. She grinned at me, and it took me a second to recognize her.

"Terra?" I asked, not entirely sure this was the same rather shy girl I'd met at the roman camp. However, her widened grin told me it was.

"Hey Percy," she said, tilting her head slightly as she looked at Nico. "it's been a while since I met a son of Hades." Nico's eyebrows shot up, and he glanced at me.

"Um, Nico, this is Terra, daughter of Gaea," I said, watching Terra cautiously. "Terra, what are you doing here?"

"Just dropping in to say hi," she replied. "I've been working on transporting myself, and it occurred to me I should probably find out how things were going here, after all, summer solstice is coming up." I nodded, not sure where this peppy excited attitude was coming from.

"I thought the god's were really mad at you," I stated. She nodded.

"Yeah, incredibly so," she replied. "And this," she gestured to her modern outfit, "is my way of telling them I don't fit in, and I'm embracing it." She glanced over her shoulder really quickly. "Well, I assume I'll be seeing you soon, and good luck with the next two days." Then she disappeared in a shower of leaves.

"Well that was weird," I observed, glancing at Nico, who was still staring at the place where Terra was last standing. "Hello, earth to Nico."

"What," he averted his gaze to me, "Was that?"

"Hyper immortal whose been putting of her teenaged rebellion for a couple thousand years," I offered. He nodded, glancing back at where she'd been standing.

"Pretty impressive," he commented. I rolled my eyes.

"Don't even think about it," I said. "She's a blood status out of your league, and two thousand years too old for you." His eyes widened.

"I was not thinking that!" he yelled, snatching the pillow from the bed and smacking me over the head with it. I fell off the bed, landing on the ground. I sized my own pillow, retaliating by smacking him in the side. He tried to hit me again, but I ducked. However, he still hit something solid, and Annabeth appeared, her hat falling onto the ground next to her.

"Um, hey Annabeth," Nico said, glancing between the two of us, raising one of his eyesbrows. I blushed slightly, but Annabeth didn't seemed phased that he'd just discovered her sneaking into my cabin. She was two buisy being mad. She snatched a third pillow up, raising it dangerously.

"You'll pay for that one, diAngelo," she snapped.

"Help!" he yelled, swinging his pillow defensively and deflecting Annabeth's blow onto me.

"Hey," I protested, grabbing my pillow more firmly and joining in.


	16. Oracle

I was awakened by a high pitched scream. I felt Annabeth's hand clench mine more firmly, as though confirming I was there. I returned the squeeze before releasing her hand and climbing out of my bed. Annabeth leapt up as well from her bed, which we'd pushed into mine so we could sleep with our heads together and hands intertwined, so if anyone found out she'd been sneaking into my cabin since I'd gotten back, at least we weren't sharing a bed. On the other side of the cabin, Nico was up, his sagytarian iron sword out in front of him. It had been nearly twelve when we'd finished our pillow fight, and we'd been pretty tired, so he'd slept over too. The three of us quickly glanced at each other, ensuring we were all alright. Then we sprinted out of the cabin.

On the upside, it appeared not everyone had heard the scream, which meant there weren't a couple hundred demigods mulling around in the central area between the cabins. However, that meant we didn't know if it was one of the cabins were in trouble too. Jason came rushing out of the Zeus cabin, sword in hand. I glanced at Annabeth and Nico, and they each ran off towards one side of the rows of cabins. By then, Jason was at my side.

"What's going on?" he demanded. I shrugged, then I heard another scream, and this time I was able to discern its direction.

"Rachel," I said, uncapping Riptide before we both took off running for Rachel's cave. As we were running, it occurred to me we should have expected this. Rachel had only gotten to camp yesterday, and it made sense that Gaea would want to take her out before she could tell us who the seven half-bloods were.

We reached Rachel's cave, and sure enough, the purple drapes covering the opening were torn. In retrospect, she should really have a door. Less mystical, yes, but much more practical. Of course, it probably didn't occur to anyone that the Oracle might be attacked. We shoved through the drapes and into Rachel's "oracle pad". One of the pinball machines was overturned, as was the couch. We ran into her room, which is when I saw the wolf tearing at the side of the bed.

"Get Rachel," I told Jason, pocketing Riptide, because it wouldn't be any use anyway. Then I jumped the wolf from behind.

Honestly, was this my best battle plan? No, no way. But given my options, it was probably the best alternative. Let's let the invincible guy attack the wolf our weapons won't effect, because he can't get hurt, while those who **can** be injured, and therefore turned into wolves, get out of here. It at least had more thought than usual. Of course, it meant the next then minutes of my life were teeth, claws and fur. The first thing the wolf did was try to bite my head off. When that failed to work, he tried throwing me off him. I hung on for dear life, hoping my flailing was at least hurting him a bit. Unfortunately, he managed to dislodge me, but luckily he decided to keep coming at me instead of going after Jason and Rachel, which would have really been bad.

I landed sprawled on my back, and the wolf leapt onto me. I punched it's snout as it tried to claw at me, knocking it back off me. I leapt to my feet, and resisted the urge to turn away from the wolf to look for a weapon, because I'd be giving up my main advantage: head on, I was invincible. The wolf was more than happy to continue to attack me, knocking me over backwards once more. My head landed against Rachel's nightstand, knocking the contents of her bedside table onto me. Among the objects was her really cool lamp, which was shaped like a crescent moon, and magically glowed. However, at the moment that wasn't what interested me (although my ADHD always made me wonder why Apollo wanted a symbol of Artemis in Rachel's room). No, I was interested because it was silver. I rolled out of the way of wolf so it landed next to me, snatching up the luminous moon and clutching it like a knife. When the wolf turned to leap at me again, I stabbed downwards with it, hitting the wolf on the side of the neck. It melted into a puddle of shadows, and I mentally noted to clean the moon for Rachel sometime later.

I climbed back to my feet, surveying the mildly trashed room. Hopefully Apollo could use his devine powers to fix it. I set the moon back on the bedside table, then walked out of the room to find Jason. He'd moved the couch over next to the pinball machines, forming a defensive perimeter.

"Jason?" I called. He leapt up from behind the couch, holding a large decretive spoon. I raised my eyebrow, he shot me a look that clearly said "don't ask."

"Where's Rachel?" I asked. He gestured to a barely visible doorway behind him, which I knew led to Rachel's hidden snack-room. I nodded, and he led the way through the doorway. We found Rachel in a cabinet under the counter.

"You okay Rachel?" I asked her as I helped her out from under there. She turned to face us, which is when I noticed her eyes were glowing green. Jason and I exchanged a glance before returning our glances to her.

"_Seven half-bloods will answer the call."_ She stared straight at us as she said it, leaving us no doubt about what she meant. Then her eyes stopped glowing, and she fell forward. Jason and I caught her easily, holding her up until she could recover. Rachel opened her eyes again, looking up at us in confusion.

"What happened?" she asked groggily as she returned to her feet. Jason and I exchanged a glance, not exactly sure how to explain. Her eyes flashed with understanding.

"It's starting, isn't it?" Rachel said in her usual frank way. "What did I say?"

"We're going to Greece," Jason told her.

**A/N: Well, there you have it, my big weekend of updating. But I feel you should be warned, this story will most likely not be updated until next weekend, at the earliest, most likely later, because my life's about to get hectic. Sorry in advance, and thanks for reading! -Vanessa**


	17. Four of the Seven

Rachel's eyes widened.

"I gave the seven half-bloods?" she asked. Jason and I shook our heads.

"No, you just starred at us and said "Seven half-bloods will answer the call," I told her. One of her eyebrows rose, but she nodded.

"But are you okay?"Jason asked again. Rachel nodded.

"Was that one of the wolves you told me about?" she demanded. I nodded. "How'd you get rid of it?"

"Um…I'll clean your lamp later?" I offered. She frowned at me. Jason glanced between the two of us. I felt a little bad because he probably had no idea what we were talking about.

"Percy, Jason, Rachel!" I heard Annabeth yell.

"We're in here!" I yelled back. Soon Annabeth led the way in, followed by Reyna.

"You all okay?" Reyna asked. Jason nodded.

"What happened?" Annabeth demanded. I opened my mouth to attempt to respond, but Rachel cut me off in her oracle voice.

_"Seven half-bloods,"_ Rachel said. I'm not sure if it was creepier that she didn't finish the phrase or not. Either way, this time it was Annabeth and Reyna who got the full blown oracle-stare before Rachel staggered backwards, returning to her normal self. Once she recovered, she smiled over at them.

"I guess were all on the same page now," she said. "Four down, three to go. Let's go talk to Chiron." Then she led the way back out of her cave. Reyna, Jason, Annabeth and I exchanged one of those fun "we're all about to be put through hell" looks that comes from knowing you're about to go up against the mother of all evil. Then we followed the excited red-head out of the cave.

-)(-

Of course, when we had gone back down the path to the cabins, Chiron was waiting for us along with the rest of the camp. Because, really, would the fates ever allow us to even have a normal five minutes in our lives? Anyway, they were looking at us expectantly, and instead of explaining the attack with the wolves or something, Rachel just happily announces that the four of us are four of the seven half-bloods who will be going to Greece. Thanks a million, Rachel.

It really doesn't seem like anyone was genuinely surprised, I think everyone knew that, at a minimum, Jason and I'd be going. Though I did catch Piper shoot an annoyed glare at Reyna. Once we'd overcome Dom's suggestion that we just leave now and the other three could be sent behind us (yes, Dom was as annoying and stupid as ever), Chiron told us to all go get some rest. No one seemed particularly keen on this idea, but after a few seconds everyone caved and we headed back to bed.

When I reached my cabin, I plopped down on my bed and took a deep breath. One thing I knew for sure was that when the gods reopened Olympus, I was having a serious talk with them about putting some sort of double jeopardy on Great Prophecies. I'd only just overcome walking around knowing that everyone, both on my side and against me, knew that I was going to be the swing vote. At least this time I had some company. I stood back up, recognizing that, realistically, I wasn't going back to sleep. So I headed for the canoe lake.

I wasn't really surprised to find someone sitting at the end of the dock. I was, however, surprised to recognize Reyna's light brown hair. She heard me approaching, and spun her head to look at me before returning her gaze to the water.

"Hey Percy," she acknowledged. I sat down next to her.

"Not going back to sleep?" I asked. She snorted at the thought.

"I thought you might be Jason," she admitted after a couple minutes. This didn't really surprise me; I'll admit I'd been hoping to find Annabeth.

"He's probably looking at something more sky-y," I replied. She chuckled.

"As opposed to the lake, which is watery?" she asked. I smiled. I'm not sure when exactly Reyna had started to joke, but I liked her better now that she did.

"Exactly." I knew we were avoiding the real topic, but I didn't really mind. I think we were both coping in our own way. After a few minutes of silence, someone else walked out onto the dock. We both turned around to spot Annabeth.

"Hey," Reyna said. Annabeth smiled in response, sitting down next to me. I curled my arm around her shoulder and she leaned her head against my shoulder. Reyna fidgeted slightly on my other side.

"So why isn't Jason joining our little vigil?" Annabeth asked. I shrugged.

"He's probably with Piper," Reyna offered. I swear I heard the slightest bit of distain in her voice when she said Piper's name.

"Yeah," I agreed. The three of us sat in silence for another couple minutes, probably all trying to think of something else to talk about. Finally, I gave up.

"So here we go again," I observed. Annabeth chuckled sardonically, Reyna frowned.

"I could have sworn we just finished fighting for our lives," she grumbled. Annabeth and I nodded.

"At least there are seven this time," Annabeth observed. Reyna raised her eyebrow. "The last Great Prophecy?" Reyna looked confused for a second, then her eyes widened.

"Jason never…Percy, how old are you?"

"Seventeen," I replied. It probably shows how little we liked to talk about the Battle of Olympus that Reyna didn't already know I was the child of the eldest gods who fulfilled the Great Prophecy. Though it probably just demonstrated how we tended to assume everyone knew that. Fortunately, Reyna appeared to know better than to push the issue.

"Well that's new," she offered. Annabeth and I laughed.

"So who do you think the other three will be?" Annabeth asked.

"Leo," Reyna and I agreed. Annabeth rolled her eyes to tell me she already had figured that out.

"Then probably another Greek and another Roman," I guessed, getting two questioning looks from my companions. "Well, currently the balance is half and half, right? Leo's a given, because it's his boat and all, so I'm guessing he doesn't count, and to keep the balance half and half, we need another Greek and another Roman." They nodded.

"Surprisingly intelligent Seaweed Brain," Annabeth mused.

"I have my moments!" I protested. I heard an excited shriek in the distance.

"Cleaning harpies," Annabeth and I agreed, climbing to our feet. Reyna, who had been watching our exchanged with a perplexed expression, leapt up as well, looking particularly confused.

"What?"

"Curfew enforcers," Annabeth replied.

"Let's not get eaten before the quest even starts," I suggested, and we hurried back to the cabins.


	18. There's Seven of Us, Right?

The next day, Leo took the four of us onto the Argo II, which we'd repositioned to the beach for test flights and such, to teach us what we'd need to pilot it.

"So, I was figuring Percy should steer, because it's a boat and all," Leo explained. "And Jason can control the sails. Then, I wasn't exactly sure what everyone else should do, especially since I wasn't sure who was coming…"

"Don't worry about it," Jason assured him, smiling.

"Yeah, we can just figure it out as we go," I agreed. Annabeth rolled her eyes. "What?"

"Improvise?" she asked. "Very original plan, Seaweed Brain." I stuck my tong out at her. Leo groaned.

"What?" we demanded.

"You two are going to get annoying, aren't you?" he asked. We both started to protest, but didn't get a chance because Piper sprinted up the ramp and onto the deck.

"What's wrong?" Jason asked immediately, putting a hand on her shoulder as she caught her breath.

"Earthborn," she replied simply. We didn't wait for her to elaborate, instead we charged down the ramp, rushing towards the sounds of battle coming from the strawberry fields. As we ran, I pulled Riptide out of my pocket, and uncapped it. In front of the Big House, the campers were battling a couple hundred earthborn. I wondered how they'd managed to cross the borders, but I figured getting rid of them was probably more important at the moment. The six of us joined the fray. I saw an earthborn sneaking up on a group of campers, and charged in, slicing him through from behind with Riptide. Clarisse, one of the campers, turned to face me, surprise evident on her face. In an instant, the surprise was gone, replaced with her usual glare.

"About time you showed up, Jackson," she told me, before she turned back around, using her spear to skewer another earthborn. I just turned as well, wading into a large clump of earthborn.

A few minutes later, I'd dispatched them, turned, and found myself looking at Piper. She held a silvery mud-covered dagger, and looked surprisingly fierce for a daughter of Aphrodite. Suddenly, an earthborn charged her from behind.

"Look out!" I yelled. She spun, ready to defend herself, but the earthborn charged past her, running away. I stared after it for a second, which got me a blow to the side of the head by a tree branch. I fell over, rolling back to my feet and slicing the branch with Riptide on its next swing. The earthborn wasn't really a challenging opponent, so I thought for a second about the retreating one as I fought. It probably wasn't retreating, so it must be…

"Valcas," I cursed, slicing my opponent in half and turning to run after the earthborn, back in the direction of the Argo II.

"Percy, where are you going?" I heard Bobby yell after me. I turned as I ran.

"They're after the boat!" I explained before continuing to run. I caught up to the earthborn four or so yards from the boat, and melted it back into a puddle. Then I turned around to wait for more earthborn. Instead, I got Bobby, his sword in one hand and his shield on the other.

"Here to help," he explained, stopping and standing next to me.

"Thanks," I supplied. Suddenly, several large wolves appeared over the dunes. "Oh Hades."

"What are they?" Bobby asked.

"Stay back," I advised him, pocketing Riptide and taking a step forward.

"You aren't getting through," I called to the wolves. Sure enough, Lycon walked forward from their midst.

"Brave words, son of Poseidon," he declared. The first wolf leapt at me, and I ducked, throwing it over my shoulder. I grabbed the second wolf's muzzle, tossing it into the first one. They both fell to the ground with a whimper. Then I found myself in the middle of three more wolves. Bobby started forward to help.

"No," I yelled back at him. "Stay back!" He stopped, but a wolf pounced on my back, knocking me into the ground.

"Get off him!" I heard Leo yell. Suddenly, the wolf fell off my back, melting into a puddle. Leo stood behind me, fire still dancing in one of his hands. He offered me a hand up.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Duck!" I replied tossing him to the side as another wolf lunged. It latched its jaws around my arm, so I punched its nose to attempt to make it release me.

"Leo, why'd you go… ah!" I heard Piper scream. I spun around in time to see Jason pull Piper out of the way of another lunging wolf, smacking it away with his shield.

"Get to the boat!" I yelled as I finally managed to pull my arm from the wolf's mouth. Suddenly, the wolf melted into a puddle, revealing Reyna standing there with a silver knife. Annabeth grabbed my arm, pulling me backwards to the Argo II. Then I saw Lycon carrying a torch towards the hull. Annabeth and I exchanged a glance.

"I got it," I supplied, pushing her to the ramp and running towards Lycon. Unfortunately, another wolf intercepted me halfway, knocking me over sideways. Lycon paused, smiling at me.

"Good try," he said before starting forward again, torch extended. I rolled out from under the wolf.

"Can you guys lift off?" I shouted at the Argo as I squared off with the wolf.

"We're working on it!" Leo yelled back. I groaned as the wolf lunged at me. I wondered why on earth people wrestled wild animals for fun on those nature shows. Who in Hades would do this for fun? Suddenly, the wolf was tackled by a black dog the size of a small truck. The wolf growled, but the dog snarled at it, and the wolf whimpered and ran with its tail between its legs.

"Thanks Mrs. O'Leary!" I shouted to the dog before turning to Lycon. I extended my hand and doused both Lycon and his torch with water. Lycon rounded on me, glaring.

"Percy, come on!" Annabeth yelled. I spun to find that the Argo II was starting to sail into the air. I managed to grab a rope that hung from the side of the deck as it flew up and away. I climbed up to the deck, Bobby and Jason pulling me up once I got there.

"Are you okay Percy?" Bobby asked.

"Sure," I stumbled, tiredness starting to settle.

"You sure?" Jason confirmed. I nodded, then slumped down against the railing.

"Percy?" Jason asked.

"Hey, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth offered, sliding down next to me.

"I need a nap," I muttered, slumping my head onto her shoulder and closing my eyes. She chuckled.

"Did he hit his head?" I heard Reyna ask.

"Curse of Achilles," Annabeth supplied, ruffling my hair slightly.

"The less glamorous side," I muttered.

"Just go to sleep already Seaweed Brain," she scolded me.

"Fine," I agreed, pretending to be angry, but it probably just came out as mush. I lay down, transferring my head to Annabeth's lap. She started running her hand through my hair.

"Now what?" Leo asked from further away.

"Why don't we leave for Greece?" Piper suggested from equally far. "What, there's seven of us, aren't there?"


	19. Friendly neighborhood storm spirts

**A/N: I AM SOOOOOO SORRY! I'm an awful terrible person for not updating, and you are free to be horribly mad at me. (And send a Chimera after me if that's necessary ****NoneOfYourBusinessGirl096, though I'd point out that that'd probably not help me update faster) Thanks so much to anyone who's reviewed or read!**

I woke up to a reddening sky.

"Hey Seaweed Brain," Annabeth muttered, her fingers running through my hair. I smiled up at her.

"How long have I been asleep?" I asked, my voice catching slightly with sleep.

"Just a couple hours," she replied. I groaned slightly, shoving myself into a sitting position.

"I really hate naps." She laughed.

"If you took more of them, you wouldn't pass out like this," she scolded. I frowned slightly, pouting. She laughed, and pushed herself to her feet.

"Come on Seaweed Brain," she said, holding out her hand to help me up. The two of us walked across the deck and up the stairs to the bridge.

"Hey Perce!" Bobby greeted from his perch on the railing that was intended to prevent falling onto the deck below. "I was starting to think you weren't waking up." I, being the mature hero I was, stuck my tong out at him in revenge.

"You okay?" Leo asked from his position at the helm.

"Course I am," I dismissed him. "Believe me, that was nothing."

"If those wolves are nothing, I'm glad I wasn't on your other quests," he replied, his eyes slightly widened. Annabeth chuckled slightly.

"What's going on?" Reyna called from down on the deck.

"Percy's up!" Leo replied.

"Does that happen to you every time you fight?" Reyna inquired, walking up the stairs to stand next to me and Annabeth. "Because I feel like we'd have noticed at camp."

"I hadn't been sleeping enough lately," I replied simply.

"Seaweed Brain," Annabeth announced, leaning into my side.

"Where are we?" I asked, failing to keep my brain on topic.

"Somewhere in the Atlantic," Bobby offered. Leo rolled his eyes.

"You think I don't have a GPS on this thing? We're…" With a sudden clap of thunder, the sky turned stormy. Leo immediately looked back up from the instruments and up at the sky as dark…were those horses?...flew across the sky in streams of clouds.

"Um…what're those?" I asked as I removed Riptide from my pocket.

"Storm spirits," Leo announced. "Not friendly." The Argo II shook as the storm spirits collided with the sides. Bobby let out a yelp as he fell from his perch on the railing.

"Looks like our friends are back!" Jason announced as he and Piper raced up from below deck.

"Hello," a voice offered from behind me. I spun to see a dark haired guy our age who was at the stern of the boat.

"You are?" Reyna demanded, an arrow notched in her bow and aimed at the guy's head.

"Hey Valdez, long time to no see," the guy drawled. "I see you've picked up some more friends." The boat rocked again. The guy sneered. "Though I'd think you'd know better than to fly after that pathetic dragon of yours." Leo stiffened, and the boat shook again.

"Hey, give me a reason not to shoot you," Reyna recommended.

"Whoa there feisty," the guy said, holding up his hands in mock surrender. This guy really bothered me. He kind of reminded me of Luke with his obnoxious cockiness. "Listen, names Dylan. If you want to bail on this doomed mission now, I'd be more than happy to…" He dissipated as an arrow whizzed through his head.

"Reyna, you're making him mad!" Leo protested as the boat shook again.

"Well, I didn't want to listen to him be full of himself," Reyna retorted.

"Can you set us down?" I asked. Leo nodded as the boat rocked again.

"Look out!" I heard Bobby yell, and I spun to see Jason duck under a storm spirit down on deck. Then Dylan reappeared at the bow, right behind Piper.

"Piper, behind you!" I yelled, and she spun around just as Dylan grabbed her arm. Suddenly, electricity arched through her, and she fell to the ground.

"Piper!" Jason exclaimed. Dylan laughed.

"Oh, budding romance." Then he dissipated before Jason could slash him. The boat tilted steeply, causing Reyna to knock into me from behind and we rolled down the deck.

"Jackson, grab something!" she yelled as she flailed for a handhold.

"I'm trying!" I retorted. We crashed into the railing at the end of the bridge, and I managed to grab on before we tumbled over, while Reyna dangled from my leg.

"Leo, what are you doing?" Annabeth's voice demanded from somewhere over my head.

"Just a second more," he called back. "Brace for impact."

"What'd you mean by impact?" Bobby replied somewhere on deck bellow. With a jolt, the boat evened out, forcing me to let go of my grip on the rail, and Reyna and I crashed onto the deck bellow. Immediately, I felt better, which let me know that we were now on the ocean. Dylan reappeared in front of us, laughing maniacally.

"Very classy flying," he laughed. "You really stuck the la…" I chose to cut him off by kicking his legs out from under him. He crashed to the deck while Reyna and I leapt to our feet.

"Percy, look out!" Annabeth yelled, and I found myself lifted off up the deck, instantaneously removing my sense of calm and orientation. I groaned slightly, and started to wiggle out of the storm spirit's grip. Below, I saw Reyna fighting with Dylan while Jason warded the spirits away from Piper, who still appeared to be unconscious, at the bow.

I managed to wiggle my arm free, which allowed me to slash the spirit carrying me with Riptide. It dissipated, and I started to fall. Over the rush of the air flying past me, I heard Bobby yelling something. Then I landed in the water, sinking rapidly in a cloud of bubbles.

I let myself sit for a second, embracing the calm of the water. Then I kicked, propelling myself to the surface. I emerged and swam quickly back to the boat, then lifted myself on a jet of water. Reyna was knocked backwards so Dylan was standing in the middle of the deck.

"Hello," I offered, smiling at him. He blinked once. "The lesson to be learned from this? Don't throw a Son of Poseidon into the ocean." With that, I channeled my stream of water into him, blasting him backwards off the deck before dropping onto it myself.

"You're…" Dylan started from where he was floating after I blasted him.

"Stick to the sky, or I'll blast you again," I warned. Yes, it probably wouldn't have worked without the element of surprise, but hey, I was the Hero of Olympus; I was supposed to sound scary and stuff. He rolled his eyes, but he and his friends left. "Everyone okay?"

"Fine," Reyna announced, storing her sword (gladius?) back into its scabbard at her hip.

"Little sore," Bobby announced, "But undamaged." He dusted himself off from his fall to the deck.

"Is Piper okay?" Annabeth called from the bridge.

"Huh?" Piper asked as she walked over, being supported by Jason and looking slightly dazed.

"We're good," Jason supplied for her.

"That was a fun way to start the trip," Leo joked. "And Percy, to answer your earlier question, we're…"

"40, 58 minutes north, 51, 51 minutes west," I replied. Leo blinked.

"We're at sea," Annabeth explained. "Seaweed Brain starts geeking out."

"Do not!" I protested. Then I heard a rustling, and looked up. "We're going to need to tighten the line on that sail; it's too slack and giving us leeway." Everyone stared at me. "What?"


	20. The Past

I was at the helm, largely because Leo was sick of my "back-seat driving" so to speak. I'm also pretty sure my correction to "aft deck navigating" hadn't helped things.

"Hey." I lashed out on instinct, but Jason managed to catch my blow before it collided with his neck, which was probably good for both of us.

"Sorry," I apologized, quickly dropping my arm and returning to my job of navigating. Jason chuckled.

"I should probably be apologizing," he replied. "I should know better than to sneak up on someone during a quest." I smiled. "Plus, I'm probably just lucky it wasn't Reyna, or I'd have an arrow through my hand." I really enjoyed Jason's joking. He could be pretty funny when he tried.

"Try sneaking up on Annabeth," I countered. Jason grinned, getting a mischievous glint in his eye.

"Oh, and why do you need to do that?" he asked. "She usually seems more than willing to have you catch her." I frowned at him.

"Shut up," I grumbled. "At least I'm not causing catfights, Sky Boy."

"Sky Boy? You have a real gift with nicknames, don't you?" I frowned.

"I'm yet to hear you come up with one."

"We weren't really big on nicknames at the Roman camp," Jason pointed out, as he settled down on the railing that rimmed the bridge, just as Bobby had been last afternoon until he was flung off during our emergency landing.

"Well, now you've got a nickname, Sky Boy," I replied, smiling again. Jason smiled back.

"Now, what'd you mean I'm causing cat fights?" I laughed. And Annabeth said my head was full of kelp. At least it's better than having a head full of air.

"Reyna, Piper, have you not noticed that they're yet to say a civil word to each other?" Jason groaned.

"It's that obvious?" I shot him a quick "duh" look. "But what can I do about it?" I paused. Teasing Jason was one thing. Actually giving competent advice, on girls no less? Well, that was another.

"Um... I'm not really all that good with…uh, you know, girls?" I offered. "Want any advice on navigation?" Jason glared at me.

"You have a girlfriend."

"Well, Annabeth's… Annabeth," I concluded lamely. Jason raised his eyebrow further. "Believe me, there were times I didn't think she'd ever talk to me again." Jason scoffed.

"Right. Like when?" I scrunched my face slightly as I considered whether I really wanted to go into this. Reluctantly, I began.

"Well, there was the time with my half-brother, then the time with burning down my school, then the time I wound up on Calipso's island for a week…" Jason's eyes were pretty wide. "It's a long story. Then there's the whole helicopter incident…"

"Percy, will you stop leaving stuff out?" I tried to look innocent. To no one's surprise, it didn't work. "Now explain why you're half-brother, the burning down of your school, and a helicopter made Annabeth so mad?"

"Well, my half-brother's a Cyclops, and Annabeth had this thing when she was six…" Jason raised his eyebrow again. "I'd say to ask Thalia about it, but I don't want to get you killed." He shot me a skeptical glance, then gestured for me to continue, clearly dropping the subject.

"And then the thing with my school and the helicopter, that was more about Rachel than-"

"Rachel-the-Oracle, Rachel?" I sighed.

"Pretty much." Jason laughed.

"Oh, and I cause problems?"

"Yes you do Jason," Leo agreed as he walked up the stairs onto the deck. "What're we talking about?"

"Percy and Rachel," Jason announced, smirking at me. I groaned. _Why don't we just tell everyone about my past issues?_

"What about…OH."

"Way to catch up Valdez," I commented.

"How'd Annabeth feel about this?" Leo demanded, glancing between me and Jason.

"Percy was apearently worried she wouldn't ever speak to him again." I rolled my eyes.

"Maybe I should just let you two have this conversation by…"

"No way." I was slightly surprised by the simultaneous response. Was my life really that interesting?

"Yeah Jackson, spill!" Leo demanded.

"Well, when I met Rachel at the Hover Dam, I was running from these skeleton people trying to save Artemis from Atlas, and then I pretty much slashed her in half with Riptide, except that she's mortal." _Maybe they'd just let it drop…_

"And that obviously blossoms into a lovely relationship," Leo scoffed. "How'd you run into her again?" _Or not._

"Then she wound up going to my school, which is where the burning down the school thing comes in," I concluded.

"I don't see why that should make Annabeth mad," Jason mused. _Aw, come on, was I going to have to spell it out? Maybe a monster could just attack…_ The boat shook. _DID I REALLY JUST SAY THAT?_

"Looks like we have a problem," Jason declared, hopping off the railing. I blinked, realizing that I hadn't been focusing on navigating very well.

"We hit something!" Leo yelled, starting down to the deck.

"There's another ship off the port bow!" I announced, putting our engines in reverse. Leo spun around halfway down the stairs while Jason started running to the starboard side of the boat.

"What's another ship doing here?" Leo demanded.

"I don't…" Jason started, staring at the dark ocean.

"Other port Jason," I informed him. _Clearly, Jason had as little clue what was going on with boats as I did on airplanes._

"ARGH, TIE THEM UP LADS! LET'S GET US SOME CELERY!" I blinked. I knew that voice.

"That's not good," I grumbled. "Leo, take the helm." Leo frowned at me.

"Why…" Jason glanced at me.

"Take the helm Leo," he agreed. "I think Percy knows these guys." I nodded, and raced past Leo and onto the deck. The ship in front of us was a large pleasure yaht. I passively wondered how long they'd terrorized Circe before figuring out how to run it.

"HEY, get off our ship!" I yelled, running towards the four scraggly looking guys walking across a plank of wood and onto our bow.

"I think not," the largest guy, the one who'd bellowed earlier, declared. "Me mates and I only just got off that witch's island and we intend to make off with…" He paused, and I knew the recognition was coming.

"Who's this?" Jason asked, running up behind me.

"This is Blackbeard," I offered as the man's face crumpled into rage, he drew his sword and pointed it at me.

"You're that scallywag that made off with me vessel!" Blackbeard yelled, prompting his four companions to draw their swords as well.

**A/N: I'm so sorry for my absence! But I'm now free, and I promise to update at least once a week until this story's over (which shouldn't be too much longer :D) See you guys soon! -V**


	21. Blackbeard

**A/N: See, I said I'd update more often! Thanks so much to everyone who's read!**

"YOU WHAT?" Jason yelled behind me.

"Long story," I provided over my shoulder before looking back at Blackbeard and his three crew members. "So you got off Circe's island? I sort of assumed you'd gotten turned back into guinea pigs."

"Where's me vessel?" Blackbeard demanded, brandishing his sword in my face. _Well, that's great._

"Well, it got destroyed by Polyphemus," I explained. "Sorry, I really…"

"ARGHHH!" Blackbeard lunged at me, and I ducked under his sword, popping back up to shove two of his crew members into each other.

"Hey, it was really all your sister's fault, don't blame me for it," I protested. Jason was engaged with the third crew member.

"Me sister?" Blackbeard paused mid chop-your-head-off swing.

"Half sister if you want to get all technical," I conceded. Jason slammed the third crew member with the butt of his sword and he landed on the deck with a thump.

"Who?" Jason asked.

"Why'd me sister destroy me vessel?" Blackbeard seemed distracted from wanting to kill me, which I took to be a good thing. "Is this that lass you were with?" Jason shot me a "what is this guy talking about" look.

"No, that's Annabeth. Clarisse got _The Queen Anne's Revenge_ destroyed because she kept taunting Polyphemus." Blackbeard blinked, then seemed to process the information. Well, I guess no one accused children of Ares of being intelligent. However, I was a little worried he'd give up processing and just try to kill me again. A grunt brought my attention back to Jason, who had been seized by the two crewmen I knocked down. _Man, I should have hit them harder._

"Got 'im Captain," one announced. Blackbeard snapped back to reality.

"Atta way lads!" he yelled. "Now we'll be a-taking the scallywag's vessel!"

"You're not taking the Argo II anywhere!" Leo exclaimed, running into the fight with a large hammer in his hand. "Let Jason go!"

"Stop there or you're mate here dies," Blackbeard replied, and Leo stopped a couple yards away.

"Listen," I piped up, hoping to defuse this situation. "Maybe we should…"

"Shut you're trap scallywag," the second crewmember told me. I frowned, concentrating on the water below us.

"Look," I snapped. "I failed to introduce myself last time. Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon." Four streams of water flowed up and became sphere hovering behind my head. "Let my friend go now."

"Lads, perhaps you…" Blackbeard started, his sword lowering slightly as his eyes widened. However, his ship mates didn't comply, so I blasted them both with two streams of water, sending them crashing into the side of the boat where they slumped unconscious. Blackbeard turned his head to look at his unconscious ship mates as Jason got back to his feet.

"Why didn't you do that to the witch?" he demanded, still clearly quite angry with Circe.

"Didn't have much control," I replied. "Practice makes perfect." Blackbeard looked confused again, but he sheathed his sword, which I took to be a good sign.

"I last saw ye a fortnight ago lad," Blackbeard commented. "How much practice have ye done?" I blinked. I know time travels differently in monstrous places, but three years to two weeks? **Really**? Was it **possible** to have luck this bad?

"I last saw you three years ago."

"Not sure where ye get ye time from lad," Blackbeard chuckled. "T'was two weeks."

"Um, guys, it's not that hard to tell the difference between three years and two weeks," Leo said. "After all…"

"Time travels differently in monstrous places," I provided. "Blackbeard's just left the Sea of Monsters."

"What's the…"

"The witch who imprisoned me and me matees lives there," Blackbeard explained.

"I'm still unclear," Leo asked. "Who's the dude with the beard dressed like a pirate from the 1700's?"

"Me be Blackbeard lad," Blackbeard replied. Leo blinked.

"Okay," he said. "Now, I can accept this whole Greek-gods thing. I've been pretty good with the monsters. I put up with the Gaea-wants-to-end-the-world-and-we-have-to-stop-her thing. But WHAT THE HADES IS BLACKBEARD DOING ON MY SHIP?"

"He's behaving himself now," I supplied. "Right Blackbeard?" He nodded. "So I don't shove him overboard and sink his boat."

"Again," Blackbeard grumbled. "But the lad did free me from the witch's spell."

"What witch?" Jason asked, looking between Blackbeard and me.

"Circe," I explained. "Though that credit really goes to Annabeth."

"Is that your blond lass?"

"Yes."

"A pretty lass," Blackbeard mused. "Now what're ye lads doing here?"

"We're going to Greece to stop Gaea from ending the world," Leo supplied.

"This be the Gaea from the old myths?" We all nodded. Blackbeard began to smile slightly.

"Well, me and me crew are no landlovers," he declared. I smiled slightly. _Who knew pirates had a sense of humor?_ "We'll help ye get where you're going." Leo and Jason exchanged a look. "Though ye may need to teach us how to navigate our new vessel." I burst out laughing. _So that's what they were doing in the middle of the ocean! _Jason and Leo seemed to think I was insane.

"Uh, don't mind Percy," Leo offered. "I'll show you."

"Thank ye lad," Blackbeard said, walking back across the wooden plank to the yaht. "There be all these nobs and levers, and the ropes be missing…" Leo glanced at us before following.

"Percy," Jason asked slowly, which I assumed meant he was carefully maintaining his calm. "How exactly do you know Blackbeard?"

"When Annabeth and I went into the Sea of Monsters on our second quest, we accidently got captured by Circe, who turned me into a guinea pig. Annabeth rescued me by giving me one of Hermes' multi-vitamines, but she didn't know which guinea pig in the cage was me, so she just gave one to all of us. The rest of the guinea pigs turned out to be Blackbeard and his crew. Then Annabeth and I borrowed the _Queen Anne's Revenge_ to go find Grover, but Polyphemus smashed it," I recounted quickly. Jason stared at me blankly. "Don't worry about it."


	22. Girls

I had returned to the bridge, because I had limited trust in Leo's autopilot. Not that I didn't trust Leo's building skills, they were amazing, I just felt that given the insane situations we tended to fun ourselves into, it was better to have someone reactive at the helm. Jason had stayed on deck, citing "limited trust in the pirates" as his reason. I suppose it's a good reason. I mean, pirates tended to be pretty nasty people. I wonder if…

I shook my head to clear it of the random train of thought. We were back underway now, Blackbeard's yacht following on the starboard side. Leo had gotten the yacht going in minutes, announcing with annoyance that there was nothing wrong with it except for the pirates' attempts to use the wires as ropes.

"Morning ladies!" I heard Leo call from the deck.

"Morning Leo," Reyna replied. I could almost hear the eye-roll in her tone.

"And how are you doing this fine morning?" I swear Leo was **annoyed** just a few seconds ago. I heard footsteps on the stairs, and Annabeth emerged onto the bridge in shorts and an orange camp half blood t-shirt.

"Morning Seaweed Brain."

"Good morning," I replied, pulling her into a hug. As she pulled back, she gave me a quick peck on the lips. "How'd you sleep?"

"Pretty well." She settled herself on one of the control panels, causing me to frown slightly. She just grinned back, which told me she was doing it purely to annoy me.

"So, you want to tell me why we're now accompanied by a yacht?" she asked, one eyebrow raised carefully.

"Do you remember our old friend Ed?" I asked, grinning. I loved to watch her brain whirl. After a few seconds, her eyes widened.

"You don't mean…" I nodded, and she groaned.

-)(-

**A/N: I'm trying something new, so here it is….A POV CHANGE MID CHAPTER! Here's Jason:**

Reyna walked over to join me and Leo at the railing on the left side of the boat. (It's the left side, Percy may be able to criticize me for not speaking all ship-like, but I can think however I want!)

"Why is a yacht following us?" she asked.

"Blackbeard," I explained. She raised an eyebrow. "He's decided to help us with our quest because he knows Percy." Reyna laughed.

"How am I not surprised?" she asked. I shrugged.

"Probably because he's done pretty much everything I've done and then some," I replied. Reyna nodded.

"Sounds about right from what I've heard so far," she agreed. Leo yawned.

"Do me a favor, and divert all technical problems to someone else for a while?" he requested. "Assuming you two can keep the pirates in check, I'm going to sleep."

"Technical problems?" Reyna asked.

"Apparently the pirates couldn't work their 'newfangled vessel' very well." She chuckled again.

"Oh, but of course," she agreed.

"Yeah, since I lost my memory, I swear things only get weirder."

"I know how you feel," Reyna agreed. I shot her a skeptical look. "I let the first legion hold bonfires. Complete with s'mores." I burst out laughing, and she wasn't far behind. Eventually, a cough behind us alerted both of us to another presence. We turned around to find Piper standing behind us, smiling slightly.

"What's so funny?" she asked. I couldn't help but think her smile was a little more forced than usual. It occurred to me I never got any solid advice out of Percy about how to deal with Piper and Reyna together. He was pretty clever when he wanted to be.

"Reyna apparently let the legion make s'mores," I offered. (Include everyone, and no one can get mad, right?) Piper looked confused.

"And that's…"

"Don't worry about it," Reyna cut in. Piper smiled at her, and Reyna raised an eyebrow again. "Are you okay Piper?"

"What'd you mean?" Piper replied.

"You sort of look like you're in pain." Piper frowned.

"Well, thanks," she retorted.

"I just asked…"

"HEY, IT'S BLACKBEARD!" I threw in, pointing toward the yacht and hoping I didn't look like a total idiot. I was pretty sure I did though.

"What be ye point lad?" Blackbeard shouted back. I groaned. Well, I'd been losing dignity since I left the castra, what's a little more?

"Sorry, it's not important!" I yelled back. He turned his attention back to sailing his yacht while I looked at Piper and Reyna, both of whom looked a little worried.

"Blackbeard?" Piper demanded.

"Jason, are you feeling okay?" Reyna asked, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"I'm fine," I replied. She gave me a look that read "you don't seem it." I shrugged.

"Jason, have you gotten any sleep?" Piper interjected. I opened my mouth to reply, but she beat me to it. "Maybe you should go lie down." I couldn't help but feel that me going down to bed was going to turn into another problem.

"Hey Jason," I somehow felt relieved to hear Percy's voice. "I'm getting tired, you want to go grab some sleep?"

"Yeah, sounds good," I agreed. "See you later." I waved to Reyna and Piper, and followed Percy below deck.

"First tip," Percy suggested as we walked through the hallway below deck. "Last thing you want to do is to have both Piper and Reyna involved in the same conversation."

"I thought you said you knew nothing about girls," I asked, frowning and raising my eyebrow as we entered one of the bunk rooms.

"I know enough to know that's a bad idea," Percy countered as he situated himself on the lower bunk. I groaned as I sat down on the opposite bottom bunk.

"Well, thanks Percy," I grumbled. "How did you sort this out?" He was lying down on his bunk, but he glanced over at me.

"Who says I did anything?" I shot him a glare.

"Well, Rachel and Annabeth now get along, and Annabeth's your girlfriend, so something happened."

"Yeah," Percy conceaded. "When we won the Titan War, Aphrodite took pity on me." I fowned slightly at him.

"So you're saying I'm just screwed until some god steps in?" Percy shrugged. "That's really helpful."

"I said I was bad with girls, didn't I?" Percy persisted. I rolled my eyes. "Well, I do have one tip."

"Really?" I countered, using sarcasm to vent my annoyance. Why did girls have to become so complicated? The giants weren't enough to worry about?

"I recommend figuring out how you'd like things to work out. Then, you have a goal to work towards."

"But how do I work…"

"Jason, you can figure it out," Percy cut me off. "Can I go to sleep now?" I rolled my eyes but lay down too. I guess the phrase "sleep on it" had to be based somewhere.


	23. Planning

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who's reviewed! Here's an update for you! (yes, I am a horrible person, I owed this to you guys four days ago) And Gazm Rules, yes, Nico will appear once more in this story (he has appeared previously in Pillows). And we're back to Percy's POV (don't worry, Jason will return since you guys liked that).**

I was up on the bridge. Unfortunately, I wasn't as happy to be navigating as usual, and I think it was hampering our progress (not that it was much of a problem; it just meant we were traveling slightly slower than our usual "impossibly fast" speed). You see, we'd been sailing for about five days now, and I was starting to feel the water getting shallower beneath us. We were approaching the coast of Spain (I did mention impossible speed, right?). You might think I'd be excited because Spain meant the Mediterranean, which was beautiful. But no, because the "most direct line to Greece is to fly from here on out". Okay, maybe not here on out. I'd managed to convince everyone that given the storm spirit's strong alliance to Gaea that it would be best to sail between Spain and Italy, and Italy and Greece to avoid too many major conflicts before they were necessary (we **had** to fly once we got to Greece after all).

Needless to say, I was not thrilled to fly. Storm spirits aside, I wasn't positive that Zeus wouldn't blast me out of the air, regardless of the god's current silence and Jason's presence. I hadn't worried last time because I'd been busy with the ship getting attacked and then passing out. But this time, I got a day's advanced notice to start worrying. Yay.

"Hey Percy," Bobby's voice lacked wariness, so I knew he wasn't aware of my bad mood.

"Hi Bobby." He walked into my line of vision, and the corners of his mouth twitched downwards.

"You feeling okay?"

"Flying isn't exactly my thing," I replied. "I like sailing."

"I hadn't noticed." Bobby **really** loved sarcasm. "How long until we get to Greece?"

"Day or two," I offered, shrugging.

"What's the plan for when we get there?" I shrugged again. "No plan?"

"This is where Annabeth would throw in some joke about me never planning anything," I replied, smiling slightly. "But I'm pretty confident we're going to make a plan at some point." Bobby chuckled.

"And this point happens to be about five minutes before Gaea attacks us? I can do that." I pretended to be indignant.

"Come on, I plan at least an hour in advance when it comes to things like this." We both laughed.

"Because saving the world from an ancient evil is commonplace for us." Bobby may have been continuing the joke, but it didn't exactly improve my spirits.

"Well, it's becoming an annual thing for me," I observed. "Assuming Kronos counts as ancient evil." Bobby's mouth formed an o-shape.

"Right, I heard some stories from the Stoll's."

"I would not believe everything they told you." Bobby suddenly appeared to be thinking, which I took to be a bad sign. The Stoll's and their siblings had really succeeded in bringing out the more mischievous side of the children of Mercury.

"You know what Percy," he said. "You really need to explain all your past adventures to us sometime." I blinked.

"They're really not that interesting." Bobby shrugged. "Oh, I'm supposed to tell you that everyone's going to meet up here in twenty minutes to plan for Greece."

"So you decided to ask what the plan was when you knew we were still planning," I summarized. Bobby tilted his head back and forth as though considering the point, then nodded before exiting the bridge. I rolled my eyes at his retreating back.

~0~

"So," Reyna started finally. The eight of us had been sitting on the bridge for about five minutes, no one willing to broach the subject. I was leaning against the wheel since we were still sailing. I'd given up telling Annabeth not to sit on the control panel, especially since Leo was perched on the opposite one. Bobby was on the railing again. Next to him Reyna and Jason both were leaning against the railing, arms crossed identically across their chests. Piper was leaning against the consul next to Leo shooting annoyed glances at the three every few seconds. Meanwhile, Blackbeard, who we'd decided was a part of this too now, stood rather awkwardly behind me and Annabeth.

"So what?" Piper retorted. "We're going to Greece to fight the giants, who are supposed to be unbeatable, and stop Gaea. What is there to talk about?" Reyna frowned, but Jason spoke first.

"Piper's right, we need to deal with both the giants and Gaea," he offered. "Anybody have any ideas?"

"We don't have a legion option, do we?" Bobby asked. I realized why the three were in such a tight group. A small group verses a large one is **not **how Romans fought, and they weren't comfortable.

"Sorry guys," I offered.

"We're going to have to divide and conquer," Annabeth declared. "A couple people will distract Gaea, the rest will battle the giants."

"Five people against the giants," Piper repeated in disbelief.

"**Distract** Gaea?" Leo protested.

"We can't take out the earth." Leo nodded.

"Can we knock her unconscious?" Bobby suggested.

"Well, we're supposed to, right?" I interjected. This got me six questioning looks. "She's waking up, and we're supposed to stop her, so we're supposed to knock her unconscious."

"Yeah, I guess," Jason agreed.

"Jason and Leo have to do it," Reyna threw in. Everyone stared at her.

"'To **storm** or **fire**, the world must fall," she recited. "Zeus is the god of the sky, so Jason's "storm" and Leo has the power over fire."

"That sounds way better now," I declared, which got me some strange looks. "Well, without the whole "Gaea being our enemy thing" it sounded like the world was going to end."

"I wouldn't be positive it won't," Jason countered. I shrugged, but didn't contradict him. After all, he'd just been told he needed to take Gaea out. I could simpathize with that: it wasn't a good feeling.

"Anyway," Annabeth interjected, thankfully returning us to less depressing thoughts. "We'll have Leo and Jason distract Gaea and the rest of us can take out the Giants."

"Unless there's an unforeseen problem." I nodded to Reyna's addition.

"What do ye want me matees and me to do?" Blackbeard inquired. We all blinked, remembering he was there.

"You're ship can't fly," Leo stated. Piper shot him a "thank you Captain Obvious" look.

"Me and me crew will meet you in Greece then," he said. "We'll help you with these Giants."

"Thanks, we appreciate it," Jason offered. Blackbeard nodded.

"We'll be a going then," Blackbeard anounced. "See ye laddies in a couple days."

"I'll try to have the currents continue to give you a speed boost," I offered. Blackbeard nodded.

"Thank ye," he replied. "Ye all better still be alive when we come find ye." With that, he exited the bridge. Leo shook his head.

"We really have a pirate for our backup?" We shrugged.

"Better than no backup." Jason observed.

"Guys," I interjected, cutting our current powered speed boost. "It's time to fly." Leo's face erupted into one of those grins that made me question whether he was related to Hermes instead of Hephestus as he took the helm.

"Okay," he said, still grinning like a maniac. "3,2,1…BLASTOFF!" We lifted out of the water like a jet, knocking Bobby off the railing onto the bridge and ripping away my nice sense of orientation and security.

"LEO!" Bobby yelled.

"Um, sorry!"


	24. Storm

**A/N: I really appreciate all the reviews. However, I feel the need to clear something up. So, Reyna is currently of the opinion that Jason is the "storm" part because Zeus is the god of thunder, which is part of storms. I point out that everyone also thought that the Great Prophecy meant that Percy was going to die and that "the god who has turned" from the Lightning Thief was Hades. People aren't always right when it comes to prophecies (and we haven't heard Annabeth's take on the matter either)**

**Jason's back!**

I looked down over the side rail, grinning at the earth below. I felt immensely more relaxed now that we were in the air. I now felt like Leo and I might actually be able to distract Gaea without getting ourselves killed. Though I still wasn't sure.

"Enjoying the view?" I smiled at Reyna's voice.

"You know I am." Reyna rolled her eyes as she leaned against the rail next to me. I was overcome with a memory of our first quest. Of course, then we were a couple of nine year olds on the roof of a building. Now we were sixteen, and this was way more important than taking out some monster to prove ourselves. Not to mention, when we were nine I didn't have to worry about whether she liked me, or whether I liked her, and how Piper would react…

"What're you thinking about?"

"Our first quest." Reyna nodded, a smile on her face as well.

"I miss that." I blinked, realizing that my words could probably been taken more than one way. _Stercus._

"Me too." _Me Hercule, couldn't she specify so I knew what she'd meant?_ We settled into silence. After a minute of just watching the land fly by, I calmed my thoughts and managed to just enjoy the moment.

"Jason, I'm sorry," Reyna offered. I blinked, turning my head from the landscape to look at her. "I shouldn't have mentioned the prophecy line, I just scared you." I tried to shrug it off, but she turned her head to shoot me a glare.

"It was going to come up."

"But I should have told you before forcing it upon you." I shrugged.

"Yeah, probably," I admitted. "But its okay, I don't think either way would have made "you need to take on the earth" sound better." She chuckled.

"Uh oh, did I manage to scare the great Jason Grace?"

"No way," I scoffed. "You know me, I don't get scared!"

"Yeah, you're right," Reyna agreed, startling me. Then she got a little smile which cut my surprise. "I know you. And you're scared." I pretended to be annoyed, but smiled a little.

"Fine."

"Don't worry," Reyna assured me. "You'll do great."

"How do you know?" I requested, turning my whole body to face her. She copied my movement.

"Because I know you, _fatue_." I broke into a grin. There weren't a whole lot of people who insult you while telling you that they believe you can save the world.

"JASON, GET UP HERE!" Reyna and I both started at Leo's command, then raced onto the bridge.

"What's wrong?" I demanded as we ascended the stairs.

"Storm spirits." I followed Leo's finger to see a couple humanoid black figures with wings flying probably a mile away.

"They don't see us," Reyna observed. "It looks like they're patrolling."

"So why doesn't "storm" here give us some cloud cover?" Leo suggested. I blinked.

"What?" Leo rolled his eyes.

"Well dude, if you're dad's the storm god; can't you give us some clouds?" I blinked. Um, thunder, lightning: check. Had I ever managed to make a cloud? "Hurrying would be nice!" I raised my hands, closed my eyes and thought **cloud**. There was a noise, and I opened my eyes again. Reyna was lying on the deck with her hands over her head, and Leo was behind the steering wheel.

"Jason," Reyna raised her head from the position on the ground to glare at me. "**Don't** do that again."

"What'd I do?" I demanded.

"What's going on up here?" Percy demanded, charging onto the bridge with his sword out with Annabeth close behind.

"Well, we're trying to use clouds to hide from storm spirits, and Jason just about fried us trying to make a cloud," Leo summarized.

"I did?"

"Jason, you made a black storm cloud that was maybe a foot long and existed for approximately two seconds before shooting lightning everywhere and making a massive thunder boom," Reyna said, pushing herself to her feet.

"So now what?" Leo demanded, glancing at the storm spirits again, who were thankfully still facing the opposite direction.

"Percy," Annabeth hissed. Percy shook his head. "**Percy**."

"It was an accident Annabeth," he countered.

"Percy, there's…"

"It's not…"

"Percy!"

"I could barely sustain it, Annabeth."

"What?" Leo interjected.

"Zeus isn't the god of storms," Annabeth explained, looking over at Percy, who sighed. I blinked. _I suppose I would have heard that before…_

"Poseidon's the stormbringer," Percy conceded, his tone incredibly irritated.

"You can make storms?" Leo asked.

"Yes. Once," Percy grumbled. "By accident."

"Then can you cover us in clouds?" Reyna requested.

"For maybe ten minutes," Percy said. "But even then it's iffy." I was still taking this in. I passively wondered why they didn't make the god of the sky the god of storms. Then it occurred to me.

"What if you provide the clouds, I provide the wind?" I suggested. Percy looked over at me.

"I don't…"

"TRY IT!" Leo interjected as he watched the storm spirits. Percy put his pen away then closed his eyes. Clouds began spinning around him. I closed my eyes too and began focusing on the clouds, blowing them apart and around the ship.

"Wow." I opened my eyes at Leo's voice.

"Wha…" I glanced around to see the swirling grey clouds that surrounded us.

"You doing okay Jason?" Percy asked as he surveyed our storm. I nodded, starting to smile. It was actually an invigorating feeling to control the storm.

"What about you?" I asked. He broke into a grin as well.

"This is cool," he offered. "It's improved my views on flying."

"Really?" Annabeth asked. From her expression, I assumed that Percy hated flying more than he'd let on.

"Well, no," he admitted. "It's like how technically dusting your bacteria covered smelly trashcan makes it cleaner." I blinked. Flying was like a bacteria-covered smelling trashcan?

"What's so bad about flying?" I demanded. I wasn't as at home sailing, but I didn't **hate** it.

"You're dad basically told me that if I ever flew again he'd blast me out of the sky when I was twelve," Percy explained.

"Alright, that's enough," Reyna said. All of us turned to look at her. "I've had enough of the two of you randomly bringing up things like "oh, Percy can make storms" or "Zeus wants to kill me" or "we know Blackbeard." Will you please just explain all these crazy adventures you've had so we stop being taken completely by surprise?" Annabeth and Percy exchanged a glance. Percy shrugged, but seemed to be letting Annabeth make the decision. _Maybe that's another relationship thing. I should try it…when I figure out what the heck's going on._

"Why don't you go find Piper and Bobby, and we'll explain."

"Or try to," Percy interjected. "It's sort of…extremely complicated." Reyna nodded and walked off the bridge.

"We have like a day," Leo declared. "I mean, this thing doesn't fly that fast." Percy's eyes widened.

"We aren't flying the whole way," he said in a slightly uncertain voice.

"Well, if we can hide from the storm spirits, it'll be faster not to land in between," Leo said, looking a little worried about Percy's reaction.

"But won't Jason and Percy be drained if they maintain a storm the whole way?" Annabeth cut in, putting one of her hands on Percy's arm. He seemed slightly appeased.

"We could recharge," I offered. I liked Percy, and I could tell he wasn't comfortable in the air, but I'd put up with the sailing and the boat terms, and I knew my dad wouldn't blast us all out of the air. _Right Dad? Please?_ Annabeth looked like she was going to protest again, but Percy nodded.

"Okay," he agreed. Annabeth whirled to look at him like he'd lost his mind. "It would be faster, and the storm's not that hard when Jason and I work together. I have flown before, remember?" Annabeth rolled her eyes, but leaned into his side, so I guess she wasn't actually angry.

"When did you fly?" Leo asked.

"We should wait for Piper, Reyna, and Bobby," Annabeth inserted.

"And start at the beginning," Percy agreed.

"You're telling us everything?" Bobby exclaimed over the loud footsteps on the stairs. He, Piper and Reyna appeared on deck, looking slightly excited.

"It's not that exciting," Percy said.

"Just start the story Jackson," I grumbled, pretending to be annoyed.

"Okay Sky Boy," he retorted.

"Start with Yancy," Annabeth recommended. Percy nodded.

"So when I was twelve, I was going to this school called Yancy Academy. I didn't really like it there, because I got kicked out of all my schools, being a half-blood and all…"

**A/N: So I felt that actually outlining all of Percy and Annabeth's rather extensive adventures would take a VERY long time and detract from the actual advancement of the plot, so I'm abbreviating it here. If you really want the full explanation, tell me and I can post it.**


	25. Percy and Annabeth's Adventures

**A/N: You have spoken, and here is your plot summary of Percy Jackson and the Olympians! It picks off right where the other chapter left off, and is still from Jason's POV. For anyone who does not want to read this, I have also included some non-adventures review at the bottom; you can just skip to the next bold line. Enjoy!**

Piper and Leo nodded. Reyna, Bobby and I had never been to normal school, so we wouldn't really know. "So we were on a fieldtrip one day when my math teacher, Ms. Dodds, gets mad at me for "pushing" a girl who was bullying me and my friend into a fountain."

"Why'd you put quotes around pushing?"

"Because I'd controlled the water and thrown her in by accident," Percy countered Leo's question quickly before continuing with the story. "But instead of punishing me, she tries to kill me, because she's actually the fury Alecto. But my Latin teacher, Mr. Bruner, gave me a pen, which is actually a sword, which I managed to use to vaporize her, sort of accidentally." I blinked. _He'd "sort of accidentally" killed a fury?_

"Anyway, then everybody in my class starts talking about this Ms. Kerr we'd supposedly had all year as though Ms. Dodds never existed, which started to make me think I was insane. So then I went home for the summer, but our bus broke down and I saw these three old ladies knitting a giant blue sock. Then they snipped the thread, which made my friend, Grover, freak out."

"The old ladies were the Fates of course," Annabeth injected.

"I was getting to that," Percy grumbled, then realized everyone was staring at him like he was going to die. "See, this is how Grover reacted! No, I'm not going to drop dead in a second; it'll make more sense later. Anyway, then I tried to go home to have a normal summer with my mom and evil step dad but when we tried to go on vacation, Grover shows up in the middle of the night not wearing any pants which shows he's half goat, and freaking out about something, then it turned out my mom knew Grover, and then we're running from the Minotaur, who really doesn't like me by the way, but we got in a car crash because of a lightning bolt, and Grover got knocked out, and the Minotaur got my mom before I managed to vaporize it with its horn and drag Grover across the border into camp."

"Which is where I met Percy," Annabeth supplied. "Practically carrying a half conscious Grover up to the Big House before he passed out. Then Chiron had me take care of him."

"Her first words to me were 'you drool in your sleep,'" Percy reported.

"How romantic," Leo teased.

"Were not!" Annabeth retorted. "I asked you about the solstice."

"Oh, and you said 'He's the one, he must be.' to Chiron before I passed out if you want to count things I wasn't fully conscious for," Percy grumbled.

"Awwww," Piper said, grinning before she realized what she was doing and grumbled something about stupid Aphrodite.

"Anyway, when I actually woke up, Annabeth informed me I drooled in my sleep, and then I found out that my Latin teacher was actually Chiron and that I was a half blood. Annabeth showed me around, which led to an incident with Clarisse and the bathrooms in which I realized I had control over water, then I met the councilor for the Hermes cabin, which I was put in because I was undetermined. His name was Luke, and he seemed to actually like me."

"Why is this important?" Piper asked.

"It is," Annabeth said. "Just wait."

"Anyway, then I played my first game of capture the flag, in which I nearly got eaten by a hellhound then was claimed by Poseidon. Next I learned that I needed to go on a quest to retrieve Zeus' master bolt because Zeus was of the opinion that I'd taken it and there was going to be a war between Zeus and Poseidon if I didn't bring it back by the summer solstice. Chiron and Mr. D said that Hades had probably taken it, so Grover, Annabeth and I set out to find it. Annabeth had made it very clear that she was only coming because she'd waited forever for a quest, not because she actually liked me, just to be accurate. But before we left, Luke gave me magical flying shoes to help me on my quest. Of course, I couldn't wear them, because I can't fly, so I gave them to Grover. But I got Riptide, so in the long term I did pretty well. We'd been on our quest for all of ten minutes when the Kindly Ones attacked our bus…did I forget to mention that Alecto really hates me too? Anyway, we escaped before **someone** blew up the bus with lightning."

"Then we nearly got petrified by Medusa, but Percy chopped her head off," Annabeth started.

"With your help."

"He then shipped the head to the Olympians because he was having some issues with them," Annabeth continued. Percy frowned at her. "Next, we met a pink poodle named Gladiola who let us turn him in to his owner so we could use the reward money to take a train to Denver. It's worth mentioning that during all of this, Percy had become a national fugitive because he had supposedly killed or kidnapped his mother and blown up a bus. But so we had a layover in St. Lewis, and I dragged Percy and Grover to the top of the Gateway Arch. Then Grover and I had to get onto the elevator down without Percy, and he got attacked by Echidna and the Chimera, blowing a hole in the side of the building and falling into the river below. We then managed to get back on the train and head for Denver, despite Percy now being blamed for blowing up the Arch as well."

"When we got to Denver, we met Ares, who asked us to do him a favor and retrieve his shield from a water park where he'd left it meeting his girlfriend. This got us on a crazy tunnel of love ride booby-trapped by Hephaestus where I learned that Annabeth hates spiders. Oh, and this experience also was broadcast live to Olympus. But we got the stupid shield, and Ares gave us transportation in a van with a zebra and a lion, who we freed in Las Vegas before getting stuck in the Lotus Casino for a while, then we got to L.A, Annabeth and Grover nearly got killed by Procrustes, but we managed to make it to the underworld without getting killed, where we met Charon who really doesn't like to be called Chiron, and Cerberus, who likes red balls and Annabeth. On our way to find Hades, Grover's magic shoes suddenly activated and nearly drug him into a creepy cavern thing. Then we met Hades, who **really** doesn't like me, and he accuses me of stealing both the Master bolt and his helm of darkness, and it turns out that I actually did have the master bolt in the back pack Ares gave me. So we escaped the underworld, triggering an earthquake, and met up with Ares again, who turned out to be the jerk who'd set the whole thing up."

"So Percy does the logical thing and challenges Ares to single combat," Annabeth grumbled.

"I won, didn't I?" Percy countered. "So Ares pretty much hates me too."

"Which god's like you?" Bobby asked, regarding Percy skeptically.

"A few," he offered. "Anyway, when I won, Ares was going to kill me, but instead something stopped him and he disappeared. Then we gave Hades back his helm, were cleared as fugitives, flew back to New York…that's when I flew because we had hours until the solstice… gave Zeus his bolt, he decided not to kill me, I got my mom back, my mom used Medusa's head to petrify my evil step dad and things seemed to be going well. But then, my friend Luke tried to kill me with a pit scorpion, revealing that he was the one who stole the bolt and the helm because he was working for Kronos, who had also convinced Ares to help. That's why he'd given me the shoes, he wanted them to drag me into Tartarus." Percy suddenly wrapped his arm around Annabeth, pulling her into his chest. I'd been too busy processing what Percy was saying to notice Annabeth looked upset.

"Luke's betrayal really affected me," Annabeth started, her voice less steady than usual. "When I was seven, I ran away from home. I was living in the streets, running from monsters when I met Luke and Thalia. They looked after me, and we were a family for a little while, just like Luke promised. But then Grover tried to get us to Camp, and the monsters got Thalia…"

"WHAT?" I yelped, looking between Percy and Annabeth in alarm. I'd seen Thalia just a few weeks ago. What monsters had gotten her?

"We weren't going to make it," Annabeth explained. "Thalia made her last stand on Half-blood hill, but Zeus turned her into a pine tree as she died." I blinked. Thalia was **NOT** dead. But there was a pine tree on the hill… "Well, from then on, it was me and Luke. I actually…I actually had a crush on him for a while." I blinked. It was pretty hard to picture Annabeth with anyone but Percy at this point, especially after seeing her missing him for three months. From the surprised faces in the rest of our group, I assumed I wasn't the only one having this difficulty.

"Anyway, Percy and I both went home for the school year, until monsters attacked and I ran away again," Annabeth forged on, her voice becoming stronger. I suspected it had something to do with Percy wrapping her firmly in his arms from behind her and whispering something in her ear. "I met up with Percy on his last day of school when he nearly got killed by Lastragonian giants. Then the two of us plus his little brother, Tyson the Cyclops, went back to camp in the Grey Sister's Taxi…"

"Aren't the grey sisters the ones who told Jason where the Golden Fleece was?" Piper asked.

"Yes. And they actually told me where to find it too, but I didn't realize that yet," Percy replied. I blinked. Yes, I had noticed the Golden Fleece on the tree but… REALLY?

"Anyway, we got back to camp and learned that Luke had… Luke had poisoned Thalia's tree," Annabeth explained.

"HE WHAT?" I yelled. Piper put a hand on my shoulder.

"Thalia's fine Jason, remember?" I nodded, reluctantly calming down. As of now, I really hated this Luke guy.

"Chiron was fired for not being able to cure it (and suspicions of him infecting it, but that was just ridiculous), and we got a new camp director, Tantalus, who assigned Clarisse the quest to go find the Golden Fleece to heal the pine, even though Percy and I had figured out what Grover was talking about in Percy's dreams and wanted to go save Grover…"

"Why does Tantalus sound familiar?" Bobby asked.

"Guy who feed his kids to the gods and consequently is punished for all eternity," Annabeth offered. "Not very nice, or reasonable."

"And why are you dreaming about Grover?" Leo asked Percy. "Not that I'm judging or anything but…"

"Grover was kidnapped by Polyphemus because Polyphemus thought he was a lady Cyclops and wanted to marry him," Percy explained. "To call for help, he made an empathy link between us."

"Please tell me this isn't the Polyphemus who Ulysses tricked," I asked, daring to believe it wasn't.

"Unfortunately, it is," Percy offered. "Anyway, we weren't going to lie down and let Grover get eaten… or married for that matter, so with a little help from Hermes, Annabeth, Tyson and I snuck onto Luke's monster infested cruise ship to hitch a ride to the Sea of Monsters."

"Sea of Monsters?" Leo asked. The enthusiasm was gone from his voice, I think we were all just accepting that there was more stuff here than was processable.

"The sea where heroes sail through in their quests," Percy explained. "Odysseus in particular was stuck there for a while. Like Olympus, it moves around. Currently, it's known as the Bermuda Triangle."

"He only knows all this because I explained it while we were going there," Annabeth cut in. Percy frowned at her, but since he still had his arms wrapped tightly around her waist I assumed he wasn't actually mad. "So the stowing away on Luke's monster infested ship thing didn't work so well, then we got attacked by a hydra somewhere in Virginia, were saved by Clarisse who we caught a ride with until her old Confederate Battleship blew up trying to get past Scylla and Charibdis, that's when Percy and I wound up at Circe's island and met Blackbeard, then stole his ship to keep sailing, where we got into some trouble with the Sirens, but eventually reached Polyphemus' island. There we found Clarisse, who Polyphemus decided to marry instead of Grover when he found out Grover was not female. I distracted Polyphemus with my invisibility cap pretending to be Nobody while Percy rescued Grover from being eaten and Clarisse from being married." Percy's grip on Annabeth seemed to tighten, which told me something bad was coming.

"Polyphemus caught Annabeth," he explained. "But then Tyson showed up, and he got the Fleece from the man eating sheep, and we managed to use the Fleece to heal her as we escaped on hipocampi after Polyphemus sank our boat. We arrived in Miami, Clarisse took the Fleece and flew to camp, then Luke caught us and I dueled him after proving Chiron's innocence to Dionysus, which did not turn out so well for me because Luke was an amazing swordsman."

"But we were saved by Chiron and the Party Ponies, who are a very… strange group of centaurs," Annabeth spoke again. "And we got Blackjack."

"Who **still** calls me boss because of it," Percy grumbled.

"But we got back and healed Thalia's tree, and things looked like they were going back to normal until Thalia reappeared because the Fleece healed the tree so completely that it brought her back to life." What's sad is that I almost wasn't surprised. It was starting to seem like if Percy and Annabeth were involved, anything could happen.

"The next winter, Thalia, Annabeth and I went to a military academy dance to help extract two half-bloods, the di Angelos, who Grover had found, but I screwed up, and a manticore nearly killed us all until the Hunters showed up, then Annabeth saved us by tackling the manticore and they fell off a cliff…" Percy trailed off looking highly distressed. Annabeth looped her arms over his around her waist as though reminding him she was there.

"I really freaked out. I didn't pay much attention to meeting Artemis, or the Hunters, despite their leader, Zoe, really not liking me. I managed to pull myself out of it when Bianca, the older di Angelo, decided to join the Hunters, causing her brother to sort of latch onto me. We also met Apollo, who let Thalia drive the sun, which was a bad idea regardless of how close to sixteen she was, because Thalia and heights do NOT get along. Anyway, we were at camp for a little while when Zoe realized Artemis was missing, so they were assigned a quest to go find her. I was convinced this was the answer to finding Annabeth, and wanted to go too, but the hunters were very against having a boy come, and the five were already filled with Zoe, Bianca, Grover, Thalia and another hunter. But the other hunter got pranked by the Stolls and couldn't come, so I snuck after them. They let me join the quest after I helped get rid of the Nemian Lion with freeze dried food at the Air and Space Museum in DC. Unfortunately, in preventing Atlas and Luke from setting creepy dinosaur-teeth skeletal warriors after the Hunters, I got them coming after me instead."

"You killed the Nemian Lion," Reyna confirmed, her voice more exasperated than disbelieving.

"No, Zoe shot it, I just forced it to open up its mouth with freeze dried food so she could," Percy dismissed it. "Though she insisted that my food had killed it, so she let me have the pelt…" I rolled my eyes. Of course, the Nemian Lion's pelt, why not?

"Okay, but ATLAS?" Leo interjected. "Isn't he supposed to be holding up the world?"

"No, that's what I was doing," Annabeth spoke quietly. Six pairs of eyes settled onto her. "The Titans used me as bait for Artemis. They made me hold up the sky so Artemis would take it in my place, trapping her." She pulled a lock of hair from her head, and I realized with a start that it was grey. Percy put one hand over Annabeth's, looking as though this was all his fault.

"Souvenir." The word sounded so strange when referring to something so dark.

"Anyway, we traveled for a while, received the Erymanthian Boar as a present from Pan which…"

"Oh sure, why not?" I heard Reyna remark, rolling her eyes in a "how on earth did all this happen to one person?" way.

"…we used as transportation to the junk yard of the gods, where I met Aphrodite, who does not hate me, and her boyfriend Ares, who still **really** hates me, but won't kill me for her sake. Bianca tried to take a statuette of Hades from the junkyard for Nico…"

"The creepy kid?" Bobby asked.

"Her little brother," Percy agreed. "Anyway, Bianca awakened the prototype of Talos, which she destroyed, but only by sacrificing herself." Percy paused for a minute, appearing to mutter something to himself. Annabeth responded with "it's not your fault." "Well, we got to the Hover Dam, which is where I met Rachel by nearly chopping her in half, at which point she saved my life from killer skeletons. Oh, and I met Athena in an elevator. We got to San Francisco via flying statues, and after I wrestled Nereus, he told me this seacow that'd been following me around (I'd named it Bessie) was the Ophiotaurus which we had been supposed to find the whole time. Then Luke showed up and tried to convince Thalia to kill the Ophiotaurus and destroy Olympus because she was going to be the child of the prophecy. However, Thalia didn't, we send Bessie and Grover to Olympus using the Nemian Lion's pelt, then Thalia, Zoe and I borrowed Annabeth's parent's car to go up to Mount Orpheus…"

"Annabeth's parents?" Piper cut in.

"They live in San Francisco," Annabeth explained. "My Dad remarried and I have two brothers." We nodded, and allowed the story to continue.

"So we got to the Garden of the Hesperides, who were Zoe's sisters until she betrayed them to help Hercules who dumped her right afterwards," Percy continued. I wasn't sure whether to be more surprised about the contempt in his voice when he said Hercules, who had always struck me as one of the better heroes, or the fact that Zoe was a Hesperide and knew him. "Getting through there, Ladon the dragon bit Zoe. She seemed okay, but in the battle with Luke and Atlas, Atlas, who is her father, killed her before Artemis forced him back under the sky."

"How'd Artemis get out from under the sky?" Reyna asked, looking at them skeptically. Percy reached up and pulled a grey lock identical to Annabeth's from his own head.

"I held the sky while she fought him."

"Thalia knocked Luke off a cliff, but he survived for reasons that will be explained later," Annabeth offered. "Then we all went back to Olympus where it was decided that both the Ophiotaurus and Percy could live, since Thalia became the Lieutenant of Artemis so she would never turn sixteen and have to bear the prophecy."

"You guys are insane," Leo announced. Percy and Annabeth looked slightly affronted.

"I think its romantic," Piper snapped. "Percy going all that way to get Annabeth." She was grinning in a way I don't think I'd seen her grin before, but I sort of liked it. Suddenly her face contorted. "Gods, what am I saying?" I smiled: I liked this Piper better.

"That's probably your mother talking," Percy said sympathetically. "She told me a very similar thing when I met her during that quest."

"How many more quests have you guys been on?" Bobby asked, sounding a little exasperated.

"One, plus the Battle of Olympus," Annabeth replied.

"What can there possibly be that you hadn't already done?" I asked.

"Annabeth led a quest through Dedaulus's Labyrinth the following summer," Percy replied simply.

"Isn't that in Greece?" I had to agree with Reyna. Plus, why would anyone want to go through the Labyrinth?

"No, it grows and develops by itself. It's..it used to be under the entire country," the way she said "used to" sort of scared me. After what I'd heard so far, something ominous sounding could end really badly.

"You see, we learned that spring that Kronos' forces where scouting into the labyrinth," Annabeth forged on. "It seemed like a weird thing to do, until Percy and I accidentally fell into the labyrinth during a game that our new sword master, Quintus, had arranged.

"So we knew that Kronos' forces were trying to find a way through the Labyrinth into Camp. But they needed Ariadne's string to do it, so we had to go get it first…"

"Please tell me you didn't go meet Ariadne," Leo requested, looking as though much more weird stuff just might make his head fall off.

"No, we were looking for Deadalous," Percy cut in. Leo shrugged, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "oh, why not?" "Now let Annabeth narrate." Annabeth smiled back at Percy.

"I was selected to lead the quest. I brought Percy, Grover and Tyson with me," she explained. "Though, the Labyrinth is hard to navigate, and we wound up at Alcatraz, where we rescued Briares the Hekatonkheires from Kampe, which made Tyson happy because he was his idol.

"Then we ran into Janus who was trying to make things difficult…"

"Janus god of doors?"

"That's the one," Annabeth replied, a hint of annoyance in her voice. "We also met Hera, then wound up on Geryon's farm and finding Nico, who at that point blamed Percy for Bianca's death. Oh, and he was under the influence of an evil ghost. Anyway, Percy cleaned out the stables of the man eating horses so Geryon wouldn't kill us, then he tried to anyway but Percy killed him first. Nico was successfully convinced that he _shouldn't_ kill Percy, and we continued on to find Hephaestus. On the way, Grover and Tyson split off to find Pan. Hephaestus then sent us to find out what was going on at Mt. St. Helens before he'd help us, where we found a bunch of telekhines trying to reforge Kronos's scythe. They found us, and Percy had me run away while he stayed to fight…"

"That didn't go well, and I made the volcano erupt by accident," Percy summarized quickly. "Then I wound up on Calypso's island for a week until Hermes and Hephaestus got me out of there. Then Annabeth nearly killed me…"

"I thought you were **dead**! For a **week**," Annabeth countered. "Anyway, Percy had also figured out how to get through the Labyrinth, we needed a clear sighted mortal. This is when we went and found Rachel again, which may not have gone so well for a while. Then we ran into Luke, Percy fought a giant son of Poseidon and Gaea, we managed once again not to get killed, oh, and met Ethan."

"Who's Ethan?" I cut in, partly to stop the rapid inflow of information so I could process it, and partly because I didn't think I'd heard the name before.

"Son of Nemesis. He'll also become important later," Percy explained.

"We managed to find Deadalus's lab, and found out that he actually was our sword teacher Quintus, Quintus of course meaning five in honor of this being Deadalus's fifth body. Kronos' forces barged in then, along with Nico whose ghost friend, Minos, which ended in the whole workshop being set on fire while Percy, Rachel, Nico and I escaped. Unfortunately, Kronos' forces also found out that Nico was a son of Hades, making him a possibility for the child of the prophecy if Percy had died. We started on our way back to camp, but met Kronos first (he'd risen in Luke's body), then ran into Grover and Tyson then watched Pan die. By the time we got back to Camp, the battle had nearly started. The battle wasn't pleasant, but it got better as Daedalus, his pet Mrs. O'Leary, and Briares showed up to help.

"The situation was ultimately resolved when Grover caused a Panic and scared Kronos' forces away. So, we recovered and began preparing for the full out war which was coming," Annabeth finished. We all froze. There was only one thing that could still be coming: The Battle of Olympus. I still had bad memories of the Battle of Mt. Orpheus, and I assumed the Battle for Olympus was worse.

"Early that next summer, we were running almost non-stop combat missions," Percy picked up the narration, his face probably as serious as I'd ever seen it. "But things really went crazy with Beckendorf."

"The head Hephaestus councilor?" Leo asked, his voice way more perky than anyone's had been for the last while. I figured he assumed that learning about Beckendorf would help him live up to his reputation. Percy and Annabeth nodded.

"We were trying to blow up the _Princes Andromeda_, Luke's monster infested cruise ship, so it couldn't be used to invade Olympus," Percy continued. "But the mission went bad and… Beckendorf blew the ship while he was still on board." He paused, and I know I was feeling as though I'd just lost a friend. Maybe Percy just had some strange ability to make other's understand exactly what he was feeling.

"Anyway, I wound up at my dad's Palace, where he was fighting his own battle against the Titan Oceanus. This served to further depress me, then I headed back to camp." I wondered why this was important, but I just stored it with Ethan and the fact that Luke had known Annabeth. "Camp wasn't doing so well. Silena broke down as soon as I told her, and Clarisse and the Ares cabin had declared that they weren't fighting because they were disrespected by the Apollo cabin… it wasn't good. Then I heard the Great Prophecy for the first time. _A half-blood of the eldest gods, will reach sixteen against all odds. And see the world in endless sleep, the hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap…_"

"WHAT?" I was surprised by the four other voices backing me up.

"_A single choice shall end his days, Olympus to preserve or raze."_

"Raise is good, right?" Bobby asked, his voice amazingly timid considering Percy obviously wasn't dead. Annabeth snorted, accompanied by a chuckle by Percy.

"R-A-Z-E, it means to destroy," Annabeth offered. "Though Connor said the same thing."

"But for obvious reasons, that didn't exactly make me feel better," Percy observed dryly. "Not to mention, Kronos had told me we had a spy at camp and Typhon had awoken and was heading towards Olympus to destroy it. I ran into Nico the next day, and decided to take him up on the plan he'd suggested on my 15th birthday. So I shadow traveled on Mrs. O'Leary to meet Luke's mom."

"How'd you get Mrs. O'Leary?" Leo interjected.

"Oh, he inherited her since Deadalus died in the battle of the Labyrinth," Annabeth replied immediately. "Did I forget to mention that?" We all nodded. "Sorry."

"So we met Luke's mom, who had tried to become the Oracle without knowing that Hades had cursed the last Oracle since her Great Prophecy had resulted in Zeus killing Maria, Nico and Bianca's mom. She wound up half crazy, which is what drove Luke to running away in the first place, as well as made him hate his dad Hermes. We also learned he'd come by and asked her for permission to visit a river. So Nico and I went and visited my mom, so I could ask for permission to go to the Styx, though we met Hestia first. Next, we found Grover who had been put to sleep by Morpheus for the last three months, and he opened up the door of Orpheus so we could go into the underworld. Then it turned out Hades wanted to capture me because he was of the opinion that by locking me in his dungeon, he could hold out by himself until Nico turned sixteen, became the half-blood of the prophecy, and defeated Kronos so Hades would rule the gods. Fortunately, Nico rescued me (though I nearly strangled him), and I made it to the Styx, which was probably the most painful experience of my life. Nico stayed behind to try to talk Hades into helping.

"Meanwhile, I called up camp half-blood so we could hold Olympus and keep Kronos' invasion out. Morpheus had put all the mortals to sleep, and the invasion force was coming. With the help of the Hunters, we split up and covered all the tunnels and bridges. Annabeth activated the statues which were actually automatons (curtsy of Deadalus) to help. I had a… interesting talk with the spirits of the Hudson and East Rivers, and bribed them to not let any monsters across. Then Annabeth and I tried to help the Apollo cabin hold the Williamsburg Bridge, and I fought the Minotaur again (I mentioned he doesn't like me?). However, Kronos showed up, Annabeth nearly was killed by Ethan Nakamura (remember him?), Michael Yew **was** killed, and I destroyed the bridge. Fortunately, the monsters retreated, enabling us to regroup at the Plaza Hotel. Prometheus showed up and told us we were fighting the Trojan War over again, and we were Troy, which wouldn't turn out well for us. He also gave me Pandora's Box, or pithos more accurately, and told me that when I was ready to give up, I just had to release hope and Kronos wouldn't kill us all, just destroy Olympus.

"Now, we learned Hyperion was leading an army into Manhattan, which the Athena cabin, Nature spirits, Hunters and I had to hold off in Central Park. This led to me fighting Hyperion, which is when I learned I could do that whole "storm" thing, total accident, and Grover and his nature spirits managed to turn Hyperion into "a very nice maple tree." Then the Cla…"

"Clazmonian Sow," Annabeth interjected.

"Yeah, that showed up, and I went flying through most of Manhattan attached to a pig flying at a hundred miles per hour before Blackjack intervened and the pig got killed by a statue of Hermes and the marble lions from the main public library."

"Meanwhile, we weren't doing so well," Annabeth narrated. "Prometheus had been right about one thing, we were insanely outnumbered. By the time Percy got back, we'd retreated to 33rd and the Park Avenue Tunnel. Eventually, we were only holding a block radius from the Empire State Building. I'd just convinced Percy to fall back to the doors when the Party Ponies showed up."

"The weird centaurs?" Bobby confirmed. Percy nodded.

"They are pretty much insane, but by a combination of shock and numbers, they managed to drive the enemy away. I should probably mention they were only attacking at night because they're stronger then," Annabeth realized. "We started to recover and solidify our lines at a two block perimeter."

"Then I found myself in a bar in the middle of nowhere because Mr. D had decided to talk to me with part of his spirit while he recovered after being blasted out of the battle with Typhon. He decided then would be a good time to tell me that the gods needed heroes, and we needed to save Olympus for them. Oh, and Kronos was preparing to ascend to his true form, which would make him... well, a bigger problem than he was at the time and that's pretty hard to imagine. Then we found my parents unconscious in a car, Pandora's pithos tried to tempt me into opening it (it sort of followed me around), and Rachel showed up in a helicopter, but her pilot passed out and Annabeth saved her."

"Apparently Rachel was already having visions and had come because she felt she needed to tell Percy something important," Annabeth explained. "Not that I was exactly listening to any of that at the time…"

"Don't worry about it," Percy told her. "Either way, Rachel's message was 'Perseus, you are not the hero' which just helped my sense of dread astoundingly. Of course, what helped more was that Kronos sent a Lydian drakon after us, one destined to be killed by a child of Ares. As you may remember, Clarisse was being stubborn, and the Ares cabin wasn't with us. However, Silena, who I'd sent back to try to convince Clarisse to come, stole Clarisse's armor and lead the Ares kids both to Manhattan and in a charge against the drakon. Unfortunately, Silena was hit in the face with poison, but Clarisse showed up with Chris, and Clarisse got very angry and killed the drakon." Percy paused, as though unsure of how to go on. Annabeth seemed to set herself, then she continued.

"Silena revealed that she was the spy as she died. Luke had tricked her into it." I was now certain of one thing: this Luke guy was a jerk.

"Then we had a little down time while Clarisse went all "Blessing of Ares" and drove a chariot with the drakon carcass behind it back and forth around 5th Avenue. Anyway, I talked to Rachel, who had pretty much figured out she was going to be the next Oracle at this point, and I finally got rid of Pandora's pithos by giving it as an offering to Hestia."

"Why?" I couldn't help the question. It just seemed like an out of the blue decision.

"Hope survives better at the hearth," he replied with a shrug. "Anyway, then I sat on my dad's throne, nearly prompting him to kill me, but managed to convince him that if Olympus fell, his palace wouldn't matter before spontaneous combustion occurred. Then Thalia charged in and told us that Kronos was leading a charge of the enemy. When we got down to the street, the only thing left between Kronos and Olympus was Chiron."

"Kronos batted Chiron aside, but not before we discovered that Luke **was** fighting from inside Kronos. Then I… well, I attacked him," Annabeth explained. "And severely messed up my arm."

"Then Nico arrived," Percy explained, a small smile on his face for probably the first time in the last hour, "With Hades, Persephone, Demeter and an army of the undead in tow. Kronos collapsed the magical barriers around Manhattan, sealing only Annabeth, Thalia, Grover, Ethan, two Hyperboreans, me and himself in with the Empire State building, letting all the mortals wake up, including my parents…"

"Who promptly picked up a shotgun and a sword and joined in the fighting," Annabeth interjected, a small grin on her face too. "Anyway, Thalia and Percy took out the two Hyperboreans, which Kronos had left to deal with us while he went to smash Olympus. On our way to the throne room though, a statue of Hera nearly squished us, because Hera hates me, and landed on Thalia's legs. We had to keep going though."

"Then we fought Kronos," Percy said.

"You fought Kronos," Annabeth corrected. "Grover used nature magic to bother him and I got injured _again_ because I was trying to reason with him."

"Before I let Annabeth completely understate her part," Percy cut over her. "I should explain about Ethan. He knew how to kill me, and Kronos told him to, but he lunged out at Kronos instead, because he realized that the minor gods not being acknowledged wasn't fair, but ending _everything_ wasn't right either. Kronos killed him, but he made a difference." I wasn't sure how that figured, but I guess not killing Percy helped. "Anyway, Kronos then showed us Typhon approaching, in an attempt at one of those 'look, I've won, and you should give up' type things, but instead we watched as Poseidon and the Cyclopes, led by Tyson, took them down. Anyway, Kronos attacked again, Grover got knocked aside, I was disarmed, and Annabeth began reasoning with Luke again. Kronos knocked her down, but that snapped Luke back in control long enough for me to give Luke Annabeth's knife and for him to stab himself in his Achilles spot."

"That's why it was important that I knew Luke," Annabeth explained. "The knife was cursed because he broke his promise that we'd be like a family." I blinked. _I did not see that coming._

"And the yarn that I saw the fates cut was Luke's too," Percy continued. "They were showing me what had to be done to put things right. Then the gods got back and awarded us with fabulous prizes…" Annabeth wacked his arm lightly. "Like Annabeth became the official architect of Olympus."

"Woah!" Leo exclaimed. "Think of all the things to build!"

"That is really cool," Reyna agreed. Annabeth was grinning.

"Not to mention Grover being the Lord of the Wild, and Tyson being general of the armies of Olympus." Reyna and I exchanged a look. Our reward for toppling the Titan's base was a triumph, a week off, and less chores.

"That's really cool," Bobby offered.

"And Annabeth's designed a few buildings already, right?" Annabeth grinned.

"Yes. I started with a…" she trailed off, then pulled her way out of Percy's arms, shooting him a dark look. "Perseus Jackson, you tried to distract me with architecture!" She wacked his arm.

"Ow!" Percy protested (I'd figured out it was more of a protest than actual pain at this point if he could do all that stuff). "Come on, I was going to mention it…"

"Oh, sure," Annabeth retorted before turning to face all of us again. "Seaweed Brain here is trying to leave out that the gods offered him immortality." I just gaped, and when I looked at everyone else, they were doing pretty much the same thing. "And he turned them down."

"You what?" Bobby asked after a few seconds to digest what had just been said.

"The Styx gives you a good sense of what keeps you mortal," Percy offered with a shrug. I assumed this "keeps you mortal" thing had a lot to do with Annabeth by the grin on her face and the way he was looking at her as he said it. "And there were other problems that needed fixing. Ethan was right, it wasn't fair for the minor gods to be ignored and demigods to go their whole lives wondering who their parent was. So I convinced the gods to claim all their children by the time they're 13, acknowledge the minor gods, and free minor titans imprisoned for no reason."

"Convinced?" Annabeth parroted innocently.

"Okay, I made them swear on the Styx, but… can you stop looking at me like that?" I, for one, shook my head. I don't think I could turn down immortality because there were "other problems". Percy was clearly one of a kind. "The best part is the mortals dismissed it as…"

"Wait, I saw something on the news last year," Piper suddenly jumped in. "That freak solar flare in New York? All that damage? That was you guys?"

"I think we can credit the Titan's with at least half of it," Percy replied. Annabeth laughed, and I rolled my eyes. Newfound respect for him or no, he was clearly still very… Percy.

**NON SUMMARY (Sorry that was really, really long). And now, I'm doing something crazier than bringing Blackbeard back…**

**Clarisse's POV**

I stood outside the sword arena. I knew what I had to do, but I didn't have to like it. I'd made this mistake once, and I was not about to let it happen again. I had stood by at camp doing nothing while my friends (yeah, friends, got a problem with it?) fought for Olympus. Silena had died trying to counter my stupid stubbornness. So this time, I was taking action. Whether or not Prissy and his group realized it, they were going to need help taking down Gaea, and I was going to provide it, because the gods might help with the Giants, but someone needed to be there to row down monsters.

Which brought me back to the sword arena. I walked in, and sure enough, there Dom was, chopping up practice dummies with his weird sword. I scoffed under my breath. _Romans._

"Hey!" I yelled, succeeding in getting his attention. He sheathed his sword, glaring at me.

"What do you want La Rue? Trying to distract me from training so I can't take over your stupid cabin?" I glared, but counted silently in my head until I remembered why I didn't want to beat him to a pulp right now.

"What, a conversation beyond your comprehension?" I retorted. He raised an eyebrow, which I took to be a sign to continue. "We've got a war meeting going on. You planning on attending?"

"What war?" he retorted. "Last I checked, we sent the chosen seven off already."

"You stupid enough to think they won't need backup?"

"They needed back up they'd ask for it."

"Unless they're… oh, on the other side of the world before they know they need help," I retorted. "You just don't make sense, do you Peters?"

"I obey orders," Dom retorted. "But I know that's something you Greeks can't understand."

"Oh, I understand perfectly," I replied, smiling slightly. _I got him._ "You're just too chicken to get in on the action. No Ares kid would wimp out like that, but I guess you Mars kids…"

"Shut it La Rue," Dom snarled. "When's this meeting?"

"Half an hour, cabin one," I replied. "Make sure the rest of your legion comes." He nodded and walked off.

"He go for it?" I turned to meet Chris with a smile on my face.

"Too easy."

"I'm still impressed you're doing this," he informed me, lacing his fingers through mine as we headed toward cabin one.

"I'm not sitting out another fight," I replied. Chris chuckled.

"And you like Percy and Annabeth."

"I owe Jackson, I don't…" Chris rolled his eyes.

"You need to let more people in," he commented.

"I let people in!" I protested.

"Other than me." I shot him a glare, but he didn't seem affected. I suspect it's because I was still holding his hand. It occurred to me that I should remind him of exactly what I could do, but another part of me (probably the one Silena had carefully constructed over a year or so) knew that I wasn't going to regain my ability to scare Chris. I just wish it would stop affecting everyone else. Can't I have a boyfriend and still beat the crap out of you for looking at me wrong? Sheesh!

"So we've collected everyone now?" Chris confirmed. He always knew better than to expect me to admit it. It's why I love him so much. (Yeah, love, got a problem with that too?).

"Got them all," I agreed. "Just gotta convince them to come."

"I don't think that'll be a problem," he commented dryly.

"What's that supposed to mean, Rodriguez?" I demanded. He chuckled.

"You're very persuasive," he replied. "Especially when defending your friends." I decided not to bother arguing the point. I'd concede Chase, she was alright. And…as much as I hate to admit it, I no longer hate Jackson. I do not like him, I just didn't enjoy camp so much when he was missing. Only because everyone was all depressed though. I did not like the guy. I just tolerated him, and was used to him being around.

Chris and I arrived at cabin one and knocked on the door. Almost immediately, Thalia Grace opened it, wearing her usual silvery hunter garb and circlet. Her hair was still spiky though, which I'll admit I always liked. The girl's got spunk.

"You got that idiot?" she confirmed. I nodded. She quirked an eyebrow, and for her sake I assumed she was impressed. She moved aside, letting us into the cabin. Inside were a dozen or so people, the leaders of the cabins (The ones with battle experience. I wasn't going to bring that princess, Drew, or snooze-a lot on a combat mission.)

"The first legion's in," I announced to everyone. "What're the travel plans?"

"Shadow travel is fastest," di Angelo announced from the corner. "Between Mrs. O'Leary and myself, I can get us over in a day."

"Gee, that's really fast," I commented. He glared.

"I'd like to see you shadow travel," he snapped.

"Shadow travel it is," Katie Gardener of the Demeter cabin stepped in.

"That's also the best way for us all to get out of here without Chiron noticing and trying to stop us," Malcolm threw in.

"Then we'll get going as soon as we work out the details with the Romans," I announced.


	26. Love

**A/N: Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! I assure you that both Clarisse and Jason will be back, but this is Percy's POV.**

"There's still something you overlooked," Piper suddenly commented. After Annabeth and I had finished explaining, we'd been standing around, probably all individually contemplating the battle we were going towards at full speed (far too far in the air I may add). The other six of us turned to face her.

"What about the last two lines of the prophecy," Piper asked. "You know, "_An oath to keep with final breath, and foes bear arms to the doors of death?"_

"Didn't Minos mention the doors of death being opened?" Leo suggested.

"Probably means we're going to have to go down to the underworld and close them, doesn't it?" Bobby asked.

"A Greek and a Roman," Annabeth agreed, only to be met with raised eyebrows from everyone (except me, I'd long since learned not to question things which Annabeth said). "Greeks and Romans are supposed to be enemies, what else to you suggest 'foes' to mean." This was immediately met with nods.

"Though what entrance to the underworld?" I asked.

"Percy, didn't you just say you've been to the underworld twice?"

"And the entrances are in LA and Central Park," I replied.

"We're going in the wrong direction?" Piper demanded.

"Guys, lets worry about it later," Jason finally stepped in. "Greece is the **right** direction, and we all know it." I nodded.

"Prophecies work themselves out usually," I threw in. "Panicking about them is _not_ productive." This got me some skeptical looks. "Trust me on this one, I pissed some people off pretty badly last time I did." Annabeth and I exchanged an understanding look.

"But…" Piper looked around at all of us, her expression alarmed. (To my surprise, she even looked at Reyna, but only for a tenth of a second.) Leo was wearing a similar expression.

"Let's all get some rest," Bobby suggested. "Jason, when'll we be there?"

"Morning," he offered. With a start, I realized that it had gotten dark. Assuming the darkness could hide us, I caught Jason's eye and we switched off our cloud cover.

"Jason and I can fly the Argo, you five rest," Leo decided. I couldn't help but smile internally at his sudden attempt to take charge of the situation. But at least he didn't look frightened anymore. I nodded, and started below deck after Bobby, Annabeth walking beside me, her hand entwined in mine.

"Night lovebirds!" Bobby called over his shoulder before disappearing into the bunk room which had been deemed "Bobby and Leo's."

"Night," I called back while Annabeth rolled her eyes. Then she pulled me down the hall and into Jason and my room. I frowned slightly as she shut the door behind us. Annabeth smiled upon seeing my expression.

"You really do look cute when you're worried," she informed me. I chuckled, but then fixed her with an inquisitory look.

"What are you worried about?"

"Gaea, the Titans, the Underworld…" she listed. I raised an eyebrow. "I just have a bad feeling."

"Annabeth, I think you're supposed to have a bad feeling when you're about to fight to save the world." Her glare informed me she wasn't in the mood for humor.

"But the prophecy line…" I knew immediately by her facial expression she wasn't referring to the underworld part.

"Annabeth, its one line. And it's certainly not the first time a line of a prophecy sounded bad." _Or even included the words "final breath"._

"It just gives me a bad feeling." With a start I remembered Nico expressing similar concerns.

"Me too," I admitted, pulling her into my chest and wrapping my arms around her. "But we'll be okay Wise Girl. You're too smart for anything to happen." She snorted into my chest.

"And we always have your dumb luck to fall back on."

"I resent that!" I protested, releasing her enough to look into her eyes and attempting an indignant expression. By Annabeth's smirk, I assumed I'd failed. I gave up the attempt, and Annabeth curled back into my chest. I smiled and buried my face in her hair. Suddenly, Annabeth lifted her head. I grumbled: if I wasn't all invincible and stuff, her slamming my jaw could have really hurt.

"You know, I've only known you a little over half a year without imminent death hanging over your head." I blinked, considering the statement for a second before realizing she was right.

"Maybe it's part of my charm?"

"Seaweed Brain."

"But last time turned out fine," I continued, earning me a glare. "Sort of."

"But Gaea's probably ten times worse than Kronos and…"

"Annabeth." I pulled her away from me, holding her shoulders so she had to meet my eyes. "We have your brain and my dumb luck, remember? We'll be fine." She smiled slightly.

"I suppose so," she replied, shrugging casually. "I'm just worried what we'll do without Grover to save us." I grinned, especially at the twinkle in her eye.

"This is why I love you Wise Girl." I realized a second to late what I was saying, and froze. Annabeth's eyes also widened, looking almost more scared than I felt. "Uh…" _Gods, I truly was a Seaweed Brain. Who else tells their girlfriend they love them __**by accident**__?_ I could feel my face turning red. I wasn't sure whether Annabeth looked scared or upset now, especially since she'd lowered her head so I couldn't see her eyes.

"I…um, bye," Annabeth stuttered, pulling herself backwards.

"Wait," I grabbed her arm again. She didn't break my grip, which I took to be a positive sign, so I took a breath and continued. "Annabeth, I really do. I love you." It occurred to me I probably sounded like an Aphrodite camper right now. She met my eyes again, her grey eyes searching. Suddenly, she smiled, allowing the knot in my stomach to unclench. Then, she threw herself into my arms, knocking me backwards the few inches to the wall as her lips met mine. After a few seconds, she pulled back, continuing to grin.

"I love you too Seaweed Brain." I broke into a grin before wrapping my arms around her and pulling her in for another kiss.


	27. Aphrodite and Venus

**Jason's POV**

I walked over to the railing, staring at the night sky while I thought. We _were_ going in the right direction, weren't we? Percy seemed confident, as confident as I had attempted to seem, but was he putting up a front to? Were we actually going in the wrong direction? Was I wrong? And the oath… who had made an oath recently?

"Jason." Leo shook me out of my thoughts. "Come in, Jason, you there?" I turned to face him, noticing that Piper was also still on the bridge.

"Yeah Leo?"

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" I felt an urgent need to groan. No, I wasn't! But I looked between Leo and Piper's anxious faces, and pulled a smile onto my own.

"Of course we are," I replied. "Greece **is** the right direction. Just because things aren't wildly clear from there on out doesn't mean we should give up our place to start." I was rewarded with two relieved expressions, which made me feel worse. Was I lying to my friends?

"But… what about the second to last line?" Piper threw in. "If you and Leo are fighting Gaea, aren't you the most at risk? I can't lose you two!"

"Pipes," I walked over and put my arm around her shoulder. "We'll be okay. Leo and I haven't made any oaths recently."

"As if I ever make oaths," Leo threw in, earning a slightly moist chuckle from Piper. "Plus, you've got Jason to protect you." I felt an urgent need to strangle Leo as both Piper and my cheeks flushed, suddenly aware of the proximity we were in. I settled on shooting him a death glare as Piper and I both took half a step away from each other. Leo grinned.

"Yeah, we'll all be fine," I threw in, hoping my face was returning to its normal complexion.

"Okay," Piper agreed. We all paused momentarily.

"So who's going down to the underworld?" Leo asked. "I'm not so sure that's the best idea."

"If Gaea's summoning forces from the underworld, we don't have a ton of choice in the matter," Piper replied. Leo shrugged.

"What about the Greek and the Roman?" I asked. Maybe they'd made some sense of it where I hadn't.

"Why don't you two go?" Leo suggested, throwing in another eyebrow wiggle.

"You hoping to go after Gaea by yourself?" Piper replied.

"Oh… right."

"And we're not enemies," I threw in for good measure. Piper grinned, and I smiled back.

"Okay, I get it lovebirds."

"LEO!"

-)(-

**Thalia's POV**

I was currently sitting on the ground in the middle of some plain. I'm not really sure Nico even knows exactly where we are. Not that I could ask him, Deathboy's currently passed out on my lap. Apparently he can't, regardless of how many times he insists he can, take a group of over twenty people around the world via shadow travel (even with Mrs. O'Leary's help) in just a day. Or the idiot was anticipating passing out afterword.

"How long till the kid wakes up?" Dom (I think, I only got a quick run through of the Romans' names) demanded. I rolled my eyes.

"How should I know?"

"Isn't he your boyfriend or something?" I shot him a death glare, and he took a step backwards. I wasn't really surprised; I knew I had good death glares. Plus, I had been told that my eyes looked like they'd electicute you. I had, however, hoped that the tough Roman kids we'd brought would be a little more… tough I guess.

"I'm a Hunter of Artemis idiot."

"What…"

"Dom, go away." Dom shot the blond girl an annoyed look before walking away. The girl sat herself down at my side (the one Nico wasn't lying on). "Don't mind Dom, he's not very sensitive." I shrugged non-comitally, thought the word "sensitive" told me this conversation wasn't going to be wildly enjoyable.

"Dakota Taylor, daughter of Venus," she introduced herself. I fought to urge to groan. I'd met one daughter of Aphrodite I liked (maybe two if you counted my minute long encounters with Piper as "meeting"), and I couldn't get up and walk away right now.

"Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus."

"You're Jason's sister, right?" I nodded. _Maybe this conversation wouldn't be unbearable._ "Who's he again?" She gestured to Nico's unconscious form.

"Nico," I replied. "Son of Hades."

"Well, don't mind Dom, I think you make an _adorable_ couple."

"We are not a couple," I snarled. She raised her eyebrow. "I am the Lieutenant of Artemis, and even if I wasn't sworn to be an eternal maiden, I would _not_ date my 13-year-old cousin."

"Oh, uh, sorry." Sure, now she looked bashful. Stupid Aphrodite, or Venus, or… whatever. But I suppose I shouldn't go terrifying our new allies.

"It's okay," I tried to casually shake it off.

"You know, the whole godly family thing get a bit confusing," Dakota agreed. "I mean, you never know if people consider everyone family, or ignore all the family ties except siblings, or… you get what I'm saying, right?"

"Sure," I agreed, fighting the need to retort that it wasn't confusing if you stayed out of people's personal lives.

"I've always been in favor of the only siblings view," she continued. I guess I managed to hold my hostility well when I wanted to. Gods, Percy's friendly outlook is rubbing off on me. "Thought there aren't really many good guys in the Legion. Except Jason of course, but I'd rather not cross Reyna. Actually, some of these Greek guys are cute. Do you know if Jason's friend's available?"

"Jason's friend?"

"The son of Vul…Hephaestus."

"Oh, he's available." Or a lousy cheater for hitting on me, but I assume my brother has better taste in friends than that. Then again, _boys_: you never really knew. I assumed by the way the girl's eyes lit up, that was the reason she'd come to talk with me.

"Thanks," she offered, jumping up and walking back over to the group of Legion girls. Nico shifted on my lap, groaning slightly.

"You awake yet di Angelo?" I grumbled.

"Huh?" Oh, how articulate. Why I put up with this kid, I really don't know. Actually, scratch that, I do: it's all Percy's fault.

"You decided to pass out on my lap di Angelo." He blinked his eyes open.

"Thalia?"

"Yes." Immidiatly, his eyes widened.

"Oh, uh, sorry, shadow travel really takes it out of me." He quickly pushed himself into a sitting position.

"I noticed." It occurred to me that I possibly should be more understanding, but he'd just used my lap as a pillow, and made me suffer through a conversation with a daughter of Venus: I was no longer in an understanding mood.

"It's not like I can control where I pass out!" Nico protested.

"You made me sit through a conversation about dating." By Nico's abandonment of his glare, I assumed he now understood I was not in an "argue" mood.

"Well, it could have been worse," he suggested. I glared. "There…I'm gunna check on Mrs. O'Leary." With that, Deathboy made his intelligent retreat.

"Ready to go Grace?" I stood and turned to face Clarisse.

"Go where?"

"Olympus, where else?"

"And which direction is that in?" Clarisse's blank expression told me what I needed to know. "I think we're in the right spot actually. Let's make camp here for the night."

**A/N: Don't kill me! This is not an attack on Thalico shippers! It was purely meant for humor.**


	28. Max the Shepherd

**Reyna's POV**

I stood at the prow of the boat (I swear I knew nothing of boats until I met Percy. Now I talk in boat terms. Joy). I wasn't the biggest fan of night- tactical disadvantage of limited vision and all that (and I was the daughter of the Sun god). But standing at the prow, the wind in my face, staring out at the horizon, I managed to feel calm. Or mostly calm. Normally, staring at the horizon always calmed me, ever since Jason and my first quest when we'd sat on that rooftop for a night, the only calm night of the entire quest, and the first time we were really friends.

However, Jason was now a subject which led to stress. We'd be friends for years, and, as often happens when your best friend is a member of the opposite gender; we were often mistaken for more than friends. I knew for a fact that the Venus bunker stayed away from Jason for fear of my wrath. We'd stopped really setting people strait a couple years ago, mainly because it just wasn't important (we _were_ fighting a war). But during those years- I wasn't entirely sure we **were** just friends anymore. Neither of us had really cared, just gone on with our lives, and let what happened happen. But then Jason went missing and- especially after interacting with Percy and Annabeth, who seemed to be the Greek counterparts of Jason and I- I really just wasn't sure what I counted Jason as anymore. Not to mention his increasing amount of time spent with Piper, for which I found myself jealous. Friends shouldn't get jealous-

I shook my head as I realized I sounded like a daughter of Venus- probably from ninth legion or below. I needed rest for the battle; standing in the wind was hardly a practical use of my time. So I quickly made my way below deck and into my cabin- which I found empty. I assumed Annabeth was with Percy- and I knew where Piper was of course- so I ignored the silence, using it instead to my advantage as I drifted quickly off into sleep.

For the first time in a while, my dream was not normal. I found myself in a field with a flock of sheep and a shepherd in front of me- who immediately grinned when he saw me.

"Daughter sleeps restless  
big battle is coming  
I come to save the day."

However, the shepherd's smile then faltered.

"That was six syllables, wasn't it?" he asked, frowning.

"Father," I greeted, slightly annoyed that he appeared to be in a more Greek mood today- not that there was much difference between the two, Apollo was the most similar between his two forms.

"Shhhh," he replied. "I'm incognito. Call me Max."

"Max," I repeated.

"Exactly. Now, I need to tell you something," he informed me. "You need to get more in touch with your lighter side."

"My lighter side?"

"Children of Apollo- great guy, you ever met him?" he ended this question with a conspiratal wink. "Anyway, like Apollo, they tend to have both a lighter Greek side and a more serious Roman side. Most are pretty extreme to one side, but you've nearly killed the light- with encouragement from Lupa of course." His eyes widened, and he glanced over his shoulder.

"Yeah, that nasty wolf is stealing my sheep! Quick, Rainbow Princess Reyna, save my fluffy sheep from its clutches so the candy kingdom will be at peace!" I chose to ignore this sentence and hope he would never repeat it. "Anyway, if you don't figure out what your light side's telling you, Olympus will face a loss unlike anything we've experienced for centuries." Thunder boomed in my dream.

"Ah, look, the candy kingdom is in-" He realized he wasn't fooling anyone and instead he dropped his voice to a lower volume, speaking quickly. "Good luck Reyna, you'll do what's right. I'll see you later." Then, "Max the Shepherd" vanished.

-)(-

**Jason's POV**

After another hour, Piper went down to bed, since Leo and I could handle the ship without her, and we'd all need our rest come tomorrow.

"What's up with you and Piper?" Leo asked, staring at me curiously. "You put your arm around her, then you get angry with me for trying to hint the situation along?"

"Leo, it's…I'm not sure…well-" I now felt bad for questioning Percy about him and Annabeth. I wasn't sure how to explain my current situation.

"What, you like Reyna?"

"Uh… well we've been friends forever, and-" Leo rolled his eyes at me.

"Jason, stop dodging the question. You either like Reyna or you don't," he informed me with exasperation. I considered that statement. Did I like Reyna? Well, of course I did. She'd been my best friend for years. But did I _like_ her?

"I… I don't _think_ so," I replied. "But I feel differently about her than I do the rest of you guys…"

"What about Piper?"

"She and Reyna are different," I replied, not sure how else to explain it. "They-" I suddenly felt a strange tingle as though I was close to a large electrical source. I glanced around to look for thunder clouds but found none.

"What're the odds that something's short-circuiting?" I asked Leo.

"Short circuit? My ship? Jason, **my** ship will **not** short-"

"I was just asking, there's some massive electricity source nearby," I explained. Leo blinked.

"Are you just trying to change the subject?" Leo asked as I raced to the side to look for disturbances bellow us. Instead, I saw a cluster of tents- familiar looking tents.

"Leo, the Legion's down there," I announced, turning to stare at him. "What is the legion doing here?"

"How do you know those are Legion tents from all the way up here?" Leo asked, walking over the rail too. "And those tents aren't all the same."

"Those must be Camp Half Blood."

"What if it's a trick?" Leo demanded. I considered the point. It probably wouldn't be hard to obtain some tents that are in the Legion's style. But the electrical source-

"It's not, Thalia's down there," I replied. Leo sent me a skeptical look. "I can tell. We need to go see what they're doing."

"I'm not turning down an opportunity to hang out with your hot sister," Leo agreed returning to the helm. "I can land us; you want to wake everyone up?"

"Back in ten." With that, I raced down the stairs to the deck, then down the second flight to the cabins. I charged into Leo and Bobby's, giving Bobby a shove. He replied by trying to smack me in the side of the head, but I knew to duck so his blow glanced over my head.

"Don't wake me up like that," he grumbled as he pushed himself into a sitting position.

"On deck now," I replied, already headed for the door. "We've spotted a group of campers." With that, I moved to the next cabin, nudging Reyna awake.

"Wake up," I urged. She sat up immediately, nearly slamming her head into mine.

"What is it Jason?"

"We're landing, there are Legion tents bellow us."

"I'll be up in two," was her reply as she shoved me from the room and closed the door. I found myself standing in front of Piper's room, but I stopped with my hand on the door knob. I withdrew my hand and knocked on the door instead.

"Piper, we're landing," I called.

"Okay," she called back. I moved down to my bunk, puzzling over why I'd stopped myself from going into Piper's room. _She's a girl,_ my brain replied. _What if she wasn't fully dressed?_ So why hadn't I had the same problem with Piper? My thoughts were cut off when I noticed Percy wasn't the only one in his bunk- Annabeth was lying with her back to him, his arms wrapped around her waist. I instantly felt that I should not be here- regardless of the fact that both were thankfully still fully clothed.

"Uh-" I decided I still had to wake them up. "Guys, we're landing now."

"Huh?" Percy replied, lifting his head from Annabeth's as she began to stir

"We saw some Legion tents and some ones from Camp Half-Blood too," I reported as Percy released Annabeth, who was now also conscious.

"What're they doing here?" Annabeth demanded as they both got up. I shrugged and all three of us headed for the bridge.


	29. We Have a Problem

**A/N: UBER UPDATE! (This is an apology for not updating recently. In my defence, I've had no internet). Enjoy, V**

**Jason's POV**

Leo and I landed us in the middle of the camp site before joining the other five on deck. We then proceeded to descend the gang-plank into the field. It took me approximately 30 seconds to have something sharp jabbing me in the back.

"Take your arrow out of my friends back," Reyna ordered from behind me.

"Thalia, what are you doing?" Percy demanded from besides me after he'd turned around to face my attacker. I spun around too to find my sister with a silvery bow with the arrow a few inches from my chest, and Reyna with a bow drawn on Thalia. Thalia lowered her weapon, and so did Reyna.

"Jason!" She pulled me into a hug. "What are you guys doing here?"

"What are you doing here?" I replied.

"Are the rest of the hunters here?" Annabeth asked as she also received a hug from Thalia.

"No," Thalia replied. "We're not exactly authorized."

"That's always exciting," Percy remarked as he also got a hug from Thalia.

"This is revenge for you screwing up my quest," Clarisse declared as she strode into the circle.

"Good," Percy replied. I assumed this mean Clarisse's 'revenge' was code for help.

"How'd you get all the way over here?" Bobby asked Sam, daughter of Vulcan.

"Shadow Travel," Sam replied, saying the words carefully as though the concept was still quite foreign to her- which I assumed it was, I wasn't entirely sure what shadow travel was.

"Then Deathboy passed out **on my lap**," Thalia snarled. I wasn't exactly sure who "deathboy" was, but I took Thalia's level of irritation to mean they weren't on the best of terms.

"That was not my fault," the black-haired kid (his name was Nick or something) who I'm pretty sure was a son of Hades pushed his way into the center of our group to glare at Thalia. _Oh, Deathboy. Wait, Deathboy's a son of Hades, Seaweed Brain's a son of Poseidon, and the son of Zeus is Skyboy… what original nicknames!_

"Guys, beside the point," Reyna interjected. We all nodded.

"Gwen and I were starting a battle strategy, but now that you're here, we need to reconfigure and…" The guy speaking was a son of Athena…I think. Also, his statement was clearly addressed to Annabeth, so I could only assume this was deferring to her command.

"Let's get to it," Annabeth agreed, starting off with her two siblings.

"We're setting up a defensive perimeter for now," Clarisse informed us once they'd left. I suppose she was in charge over here. "Jackson, you're helping." Percy rolled his eyes.

"Yay, it's battle preparation time," he joked, earning another glare from Clarisse before we all set off to get ready for the battle.

-)(-

Leo and I finally got a chance to sleep after several hours of battle prep along with several hours of strategy- Annabeth and Bobby would be going to the underworld on Mrs. O'Leary to close the doors of death, as Annabeth had experience in the underworld, and Bobby's dad ferried souls to the underworld, which must count for something. Piper and Reyna would lead the attacks on the Giants- which would be carried out by everyone, since we now had enough people. Leo, Percy and I would go after Gaea, since it seemed "storm" described Percy and I together.

However, my rest was cut short by a loud boom from outside the tent Leo and I had crashed in. I was on my feet in seconds, snatching my sword and other equipment from the end of the bed where I'd dropped it. I had a sword, shield, and full armor which had been thrust into my arms with the disclaimer "you'll need it" by Sam shortly before we went to sleep. Leo was also up, wearing Greek armor- something I was still not used to- and his magic tool belt.

"Guys, we have a problem," Bobby yelled, his entrance announced by the loudness of the tent flap. He also wore armor provided by Sam (the girl was always prepared), and Leo jumped backwards because his gladius was already drawn. Another boom.

"What?" I asked, as Leo and I followed Bobby out of the tent. I needn't have asked, once we were outside it was incredibly apearent that the problem was very likely in the small army in blue uniforms who stood at the ridge with cannons. The main problem- we hadn't made any preperations against cannon fire, as was evidenced by the whole in the ground over which the three of us ran to reach the command tent.

"What's going on?" I yelled as we charged in. In the tent were Gwen and Annabeth's brother, whose name I now knew to be Malcolm, as well as Clarisse, Dom, Chris, Katie Gardener, Hazel, and several others.

"We didn't exactly expect this," Gwen replied.

"Who are they and why do they have cannons," Travis Stoll sprinted into the room, nearly taking out Bobby. "Our lines aren't doing so well right now."

"Napolean," Malcolm summarized, staring at the battle maps. "We need the archers."

"Thalia's on it with Will Solace," Travis informed us. "But we need backup, monsters are coming in from the other side."

"I'll take a unit," I declared.

"I got this one," Bobby countered me. "You and Leo get up to Olympus."

"We'll be right behind you," Clarisse informed him and he clapped me on the back and exited long with everyone but the two children of Minerva, Clarisse, Dom, and Chris.

"See you soon," I offered them, getting four grin expressions in return, before pulling Leo out of the tent.

"What about Percy?" Leo demanded as we raced through the camp site, ducking whenever we heard a cannon fire.

"We'll have to find him later," I replied, heading for the empty area a few hundred feet from Napolean and his army where no monsters were congregated. We had to break through the circle and get to the mountain top to meet Gaea. We'd gotten about twenty feet from the camp when footsteps sounded behind us.

"LOOK OUT!" Leo and I didn't get a chance to turn and face Percy because he knocked us forward onto the ground. Suddenly there were more smaller bangs, and little puffs of dust erupted around us, accompanied by whistling noises.

"Is that gunfire?" Leo demanded, throwing his hands over his head.

"Napolean brought muskets," Percy replied, rolling off us so he was closer to Napolean's troups then tapping his wristwatch, which sprung into a shield.

"That's so cool!" Leo exclaimed, staring at the shield before a metallic clang snapped him from that thought. Percy handed him the shield.

"You and Jason stay behind this and run for it."

"What about you?" I asked. He shot me a duh look. "Right."

"I'll be right behind you." We nodded, and the three off us sprinted for slope, whistling and dirt puffs following us. After what seemed like several minutes, but was probably only seconds, we dove behind the cover of loose rocks on the slope. The musketeers seemed to loose intrest in us now that we were out of range, and the whistling stopped. Leo handed Percy back his shield. Percy surveyed the dents and groaned slightly before collapsing it back into his watch.

"'I swear I'll keep it dent free for more than a year next time'," he grumbled. "I should stop making these promises."

"Thanks Percy," I offered him.

"Don't worry about it."

"How'd you know about the muskets?" Leo asked.

"Attacked our patrol, Connor's down with a wound to the shoulder," he explained. "Lets go."

"Don't you want some armor?" I asked. Percy shrugged.

"Don't think it'll really help against Gaea. And I'm not running back through the gun fire." This made perfect sense to me- no need to push one's luck- so I nodded, and the three of us started off up the mountain.


	30. Foes

**Reyna's POV**

I was sitting with Thalia since we'd just finished a perimeter check after the strategy meeting. I really liked Jason's sister so far, she was to the point, rather friendly, an archer, and had better things to do that worry about boys- a brilliant idea as far as I was concerned. Though I didn't think I could become a Hunter- swearing off boys forever seemed like an extreme solution to my problem.

"You okay?" Thalia asked suddenly, startling me slightly.

"Yeah," I replied. She cocked an eyebrow. "I had a weird dream."

"That's not good," Thalia replied, turning to face me now. "Demi-god weird dreams-"

"I know," I agreed. "It's no big deal." _Well, without the whole "Olympus will suffer a loss unlike anything they've faced in centuries."_ What I really wanted to do right now was talk to Jason. We'd been helping to sort out each other's problems for years, and I couldn't really think of anyone else I'd ever told this stuff too.

"Oh, sure it's not," Thalia replied sarcastically, shooting me a "just tell me, I can help" look which I'd only ever seen on Jason. I was slightly taken aback. "I'm pretty good with problems. I've had my share."

"So my dad came to me in a dream," I admitted. "And told me that if I didn't figure out how to be in touch with my "light side" Olympus' sunk."

"First point," Thalia started. "Apollo is overdramatic. A lot. Which brings me to my second point- was that exactly what he said?"

"No, he said 'if you don't figure out what your light side's telling you, Olympus will face a loss unlike anything we've experienced for centuries'," I dutifully repeated. "But it's the same idea." Thalia nodded, though she appeared to be still processing my words.

"Then what's your light side telling you?" Thalia asked. It was my turn to raise an eyebrow. "If you want more understanding and feelings, go find Piper or Dakota." I groaned at the idea of trying to talk out my problems with Piper.

"I know, children of Aphrodite are annoying," Thalia agreed. "Is it so hard to believe that I'm not dating my younger cousin?"

"Nope," Annabeth cut in, sitting down on Thalia's other side. "And that's not Reyna's problem, its Piper." I decided against asking Annabeth how she knew- I was beginning to agree with the "Annabeth knows everything" theory.

"What's the problem with…oh no. You and Jason?"

"Well-"

"You like Jason," Thalia continued. "Gods, why must Aphrodite muck things up."

"Aphrodite's not that bad," Annabeth countered. "We really should blame Hera for this one too." Thalia nodded.

"I don't know if I like Jason," I protested. "It's always sort of just been- Jason. Just comfortable. I didn't give it any thought until things went crazy." Annabeth and Thalia exchanged a look.

"Well, that's what you need to figure out. Do you or do you not like Jason?" Thalia announced.

"Olympus's greatest loss for centuries rests on me figuring out if I like a guy?" I groaned. "What the Hades?"

"Boys," Thalia muttered. "Romance. It's all just bound to make things complicated."

"Go to Hunter line," Annabeth explained around Thalia. Thalia rolled her eyes, then rounded on Annabeth.

"Well, what about you then Ms. Aphrodite-isn't-so-bad," she demanded. "What have you and Percy been up to?" Annabeth flushed pink.

"They've been rather adorable," I offered. "Though I'm not sure where Annabeth was last night…" Annabeth shot me a death glare, which I assumed would be rather alarming if I hadn't a) been literally raised by wolves, and b) she wasn't red as a tomato. Thalia's eyes widened and she turned to face Annabeth so I couldn't see her anymore.

"You didn't…" By the increased level of redness on Annabeth's face (which I hadn't thought possible) I was pretty confident I knew what Thalia was implying.

"No, gods, Thalia, why would-"

"What were you doing then?" Thalia asked, clearly she also acknowledged that letting Annabeth splutter, while amusing, wasn't getting us much information.

"We were just talking!" she protested. "I wanted to talk some stuff over with him, we're about to fight Gaea incase no one noticed." I nodded. So Annabeth had wanted to talk things over with Percy- did this make my desire to talk things over with Jason a sign that I liked him?

"You are not this red about talking. Spill Chase."

"What happened to 'romance is awful'?"

"Romance, not gossip about my best friend," Thalia replied. "Now if you don't…" She trailed off, and the two stared at each other. Just as I began to feel out of place, Annabeth sighed.

"Fine. Percy…he…hetoldmehelovesme." The last part was uttered so faintly and quickly that it came out as mush.

"Uh, I missed that," I threw in. Annabeth sighed, glancing at the ground for a second before staring back up at us.

"Percy told me he loves me," she repeated, glaring at us as though daring us to mock her. Thalia squealed, throwing her arms around Annabeth.

"Oh, Annie, that's great!" she announced in a high-pitched voice. Annabeth looked at her skeptically.

"Are you okay Thalia?"

"Course," Thalia replied, her voice back at normal pitch. "How's my Aphrodite girl impression?" Annabeth and I both snorted while Thalia grinned. "But seriously Annabeth, that's great." I nodded.

"Thanks," Annabeth replied. Her complexion was nearly back to normal, a grin on her face instead.

"But he told you he loves you and you didn't do anything?" Thalia demanded. Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Good to know you're back," she remarked.

"But you didn't do _anything_?"

"Well, I kissed him," Annabeth replied, her tone now slightly annoyed.

"Sounds like a fairly standard reaction," I offered, fully aware that it probably sounded stupid. This conversation had left my comfort zone as soon as Thalia began grilling Annabeth for information. Thalia was grinning.

"You two are adorable."

"Is that code for 'I will tease Percy out of his mind later'?" Annabeth requested. Thalia shrugged. However, she didn't get to respond because a loud BOOM beat her to it.

"What the Hades was that?" Thalia exclaimed as the three of us leapt to our feet.

"Was that cannon fire?" Annabeth demanded. I shrugged, as the three of us ran for the perimeter. Instead, someone collided with us rounding the last corner.

"Annabeth," Percy had caught Annabeth by the shoulders to avoid knocking her over backwards, which is more than I could say about Piper, who was currently lying on top of me.

"Get off," I snapped, shoving her off me and getting to my feet. BOOM.

"What's going on?" Thalia demanded.

"Napoleon," Percy supplied, earning three skeptical looks. "He's shooting cannons at the camp."

"He's _what_?" I demanded.

"Thalia, we need your archery," said Percy. Thalia nodded, pulling a bow from mid air over her shoulder.

"Percy, you need to find Jason and Leo," Piper said. She had stood up and was now behind me. He nodded.

"You guys should find Mrs. O'Leary," he added, releasing Annabeth's shoulders. Piper and I started back the other direction, but stopped because Annabeth had kissed Percy.

"It's a tradition, right?" she said as she pulled away.

"Be careful," Percy replied.

"You too." He nodded, then he and Thalia raced off, and Annabeth started over to us.

"That was adorable," Piper cooed.

"Piper, your Aphrodite's showing," she replied, and Piper's expression quickly changed to one of annoyance as she realized what she was doing. The three of us continued into the camp for a couple minutes before the enormous black form of Mrs. O'Leary bounded into view with a resounding woof.

"Where's Bobby?" I asked. Another boom prevented answering.

"Oh my dears, where are you?" A female voice, the accent sounding faintly Middle Eastern, came from somewhere behind us. Annabeth froze, then muttered a string of phrases in Ancient Greek which I took to be curse words.

"Annabeth, what is that?" Piper asked, starting to turn around before Annabeth grabbed her arm and stopped her.

"Don't look." Piper and I watched Annabeth nervously. As we now had a full grasp of her adventures, something that scared Annabeth was known not to be good.

"Who-"

"Where are you, my pretty grey eyed girl? I just want a photograph."

"You two get on Mrs. O'Leary and close the Doors of Death," Annabeth ordered, talking very quickly. "We need to get rid of Napoleon. I'll deal with her." She pulled a Yankees cap from her back pocket. Piper began climbing onto Mrs. O'Leary as told, and I followed.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Dealt with her before, " Annabeth replied. "I'll be fine."

"Annabeth-" Piper tried.

"You guys go, I got Medusa," she replied shortly before whacking Mrs. O'Leary's rump and sending us into darkness. I was so busy processing the fact that Medusa was back during the break-neck ride through the pitch black that only at the back of my mind did it occur to me that Piper and I were easily the closest to foes we had in our group.


	31. Good Dog

**A/N: Hey! I'm not dead! And I've written a long chapter to beg for forgiveness! It shouldn't be too many more chapters to the end now! **

**Clarisse's POV:**

Dom, Chris and I raced through the camp. I'd left Malcolm in the command tent with Gwen because without Chase they were the best we had. For some reason, they didn't take my saying that as a compliment.

The three of us were off to lead a charge against Napoleon, because the cannon fire was wrecking our whole camp and we were not taking that lying down. The plan was for us to cut through the monsters and outflank them. Why we needed two children of the goddess of wisdom to come up with such a plan is beyond me. But Dom and I were going to pull it off without a hitch obviously, since our dad was the god of war. This didn't stop me from doing everything short of tying Chris to the command tent to prevent him from coming with us. But the idiot is too stubborn for his own good (and I might have the smallest soft spot for him, but I'm obviously more than capable of ordering him around if it was truly necessary). Dom and I have the situation handled anyway, so there wasn't actually a reason for Chris to stay behind.

At the very least, we might find some nice safer- I mean in greater need of assistance- unit and Chris can help them without hindering our mission. Regardless, we were making good progress until I was taken out by an invisible force.

"Don't go that way," Annabeth hissed, whipping off her cap and appearing before us, sword drawn and breathing harder than usual. "It's not very safe."

"Oh, it's not very safe," Dom scoffed. "In case you haven't realized, this whole camp is under-"

"SHHH," Annabeth warned. "I've got her a minute behind me; you don't want her to find us."

"Who?"

"Think you've lost me, my pretty?" Annabeth cursed in Greek.

"Close your eyes," she warned. I caught her pulling out a mirror before I followed her instruction (of my own free will because she usually has good ideas. She has no sort of authority over me).

"And why would we do that?" Dom snapped from behind me.

"Because Medusa will turn you to stone otherwise." There was a pause. I wondered why such a monster was here when Jackson wasn't. Usually he seemed to attract all the really nasty ones. "Okay, you can open your eyes now." The world returned. Annabeth was now standing against the tent. I could only assume she was using her hand mirror to keep an eye on Medusa.

"You guys go back the direction you came from, I've got her," she told us. I shot her a glare to tell her that wasn't something I planned on doing.

"That's stupid, we'll take her out in half the time with all of us," Dom informed her. "Aren't you supposed to be _into_ battle strategy?" Annabeth shot him a death glare.

"Chris, you go on ahead and get them to start making a path, Peters and I will help Chase and catch up," I turned and told him. When he rolled his eyes I knew we would have a problem.

"Yeah, good try," was his response. I would have argued, but then Annabeth let out some sort of irritated snort, and shoved us both down the aisle between tents. Once again, I wish to point out that I was not going along because she had any sort of authority over me; I have simply decided that she does have good plans.

"Dom, you want to help? Stay here, put this on," she tossed him her Yankees cap, "And try not to get caught and killed. We're going to draw her attention." Dom nodded, and she started to hand him her mirror. He rolled his eyes.

"Like I need that," he replied. "Just because _you_ don't go through intensive night training doesn't mean I haven't." He plopped the hat on his head and vanished. "Though I will say that this isn't as stupid as the rest of this Greek stuff." Annabeth didn't blink at Dom's natural hostility (the girl has spunk, otherwise I wouldn't be caught dead helping her), and the three of us crunched loudly down the aisle.

-)(-

**Jason's POV**

Percy, Leo and I reached a plateau, and I was instantly hit by a feeling of the utmost unease. Judging by the abrupt halt Leo and Percy made on either side of me, they had a similar feeling. Leo was starting to breathe harder than he had been running up the hill.

"Leo, you okay?" Percy asked, though he was still roving his sea-colored eyes over the plateau as though expecting one of the small scraggly plants to jump up and attack- which isn't out of the question upon second thought.

"This is happening, isn't it?" he basically mouthed for all the sound coming out of his mouth. "This… shit, Jason, I'm not sure I can do this." I grabbed him by the shoulders, forcing him to look at me.

"Leo, you can do this. You were born to do this. This is for your mom. We will get out of this alright." Leo nodded and regained his breathing pattern.

"Right, sorry, just going for dramatic cinema effect," he joked weakly without it reaching his eyes, but it was still a lot better than the alternative.

"DOWN!" Percy yelled. Leo and I flung ourselves to the side as a giant rock landed where we were just standing. I rolled back to my feet, on the lookout for another attack, but it didn't seem eminent. Then Leo let out a strangled yelp. I turned to find my friend sinking into the ground.

"Leo!" I started over to help as the Hispanic boy tried to get up from his hands and knees without sinking further.

"Don't." I stopped, realizing I was about to step into the quicksand too and complicate things.

"What's going on?" Percy yelled. That's when I realized he wasn't with us- he was on the other side of the boulder.

"Do you have any suggestions as to what to do when confronted with quicksand?" Leo called back. He'd managed to get his hands out of the stuff so he was now standing upright, up to his mid-shin.

"Find a rope?" Percy called back. "I'll be over soon, but I've got a weed problem." I sensed the oncoming attack rather than saw it, but ducked as the first branch flew over my head. I turned to find the scraggly bushes coming at me again. I activated my sword and fought back, but there were about three of them (I think, they sort of just seemed like a clump) and each had way more limbs than I did, so I was getting beaten and scratched pretty badly.

"I would like to give whoever came up with the expression 'beating around the bush' a piece of my mind right now," Percy yelled. I laughed in spite of myself. Another unique skill of Percy's- making a battle to the death with bushes while your friend sinks to his death in quicksand amusing.

"Enjoying yourself demigods?" I couldn't help the shiver that shot down my spine at the inhuman voice.

"Too scared to fight us yourself?" I assumed for a second that I'd imagined the voice. There was no way he would do something like that. The deep chuckle, reminding me a bit of an earthquake, informed me that I had not imagined it at all.

"I see no reason to. I will enjoy watching your die."

"Jason, I need you to catch my rope and pull me out," Leo called from behind me. "Not like right now or anything, but I'd appreciate if it was pretty soon." I tried to free myself from my bush encasing to reply, but that didn't work out as I simply received another scratch across my face. I lunged out with my sword, and assumed I'd cut through something because the bush didn't hit me quite as frequently.

"Of course you want to watch, you never do anything but watch," Percy responded. I had to ponder how he managed to open his mouth and talk while being beaten. I guessed his invincibility was helping. "You watched Kronos rid you of your husband, you watched Zeus rid you of Kronos, you watched the gods imprison Typhon twice… and now you can't even involve yourself in fighting three demigods?" Gaia (wherever she was, my world outlook was currently constrained to brownish scraggly bush limbs) didn't seem like she planned to respond. I whirled to hack at the firmer form behind me, but had my hand caught.

"Just me." I was rather relieved to have Percy with me now, despite the additional bushes that accompanied him. We stood back to back, hacking and twirling to keep the bushes away. Percy must have been better at this than I was because I think we were closer to winning (maybe it was because he wasn't becoming covered in progressively more bruises). Unique Percy skill number 3: ability to beat bushes into submission.

"Guys, good job with bushwacking, but can we please get me out of this?"

"We're coming Leo," I told him.

"HURRY!" Then, the bushes stopped moving. Percy and I, still in full battle mode, hacked them to pieces in seconds. We then turned to find Leo up to his bellybutton in the ground, holding onto one end of a rope, the other end of which was lying on the ground near us. We both grabbed it and started pulling.

"What happened to the bushes?" Leo asked as we pulled him from the quicksand. "I'm not sinking anymore either." Then he was practically propelled out of the ground, knocking Jason and I over backwards.

"What-" Gaia's booming voice was cut off by a much higher-pitched and human one, emitted by a brown haired girl in brown and green standing on top of the giant rock.

"Hello Mother, I'm home."

-)(-

**Reyna's POV**

Piper and I were now in a large cavern. All surfaces seemed to be made of the same dark grey rock, and no one else could be seen. We dismounted the large black dog- Mrs. O'Leary I think- who curled up in a corner of the cavern and took a nap. She was sure a lot of help.

"Now what?" Piper asked, looking at me as though I was supposed to suddenly have all the answers.

"We walk," I retorted, pointing in the direction of what seemed to be the only exit to the cave.

"How do you know that isn't some sort of trap?" Piper replied, not showing any hits toward actually moving.

"Then you stay here and dog sit. I'll walk." Piper glared at me (I ignored it obviously) and we set off down the cavern, keeping a good five feet of distance between us.

I wasn't comfortable at all. The cavern was dark- complete tactical disadvantage- and there were no warming effects of the sun to speak of. Not to mention I was now working on a task I had not been planning on taking responsibility for, had no idea how to do, and my only company was a sleeping dog I barely knew the name of and a girl who I might as well not know for all her willingness to talk to me. Oh, and I had to figure out whether or not I liked one Jason Grace, because the fate of Olympus evidently depended on it. No pressure. And Piper was sure to be a lot of help with that too.

I registered a faint whoosh from further ahead around the blind corner we were approaching. I was forced to cross Piper and my extensive personal space lines in order to grab her hand and stop her.

"Wha-"

"Shh," I urged. "There's something up ahead." Piper didn't protest thankfully and crept after me towards the corner. I slowly eased my head around it.

The whoosh was explained by the five or six storm spirits I could see flying around the cavern. They all still looked like black horses, galloping around the black haired scum-bag who attacked the boat earlier (I want to say Dylan). While I was tempted to just shoot an arrow through his head and be done with him, I was more focused on the gaping hole behind him.

The storm spirits were zooming around in front of it, but beyond the hole the sky seemed darker and more menacing, and the shadows almost seemed to have form. I could only assume that was the Door of Death everyone was so excited about.

I'll admit, for something causing so much trouble it wasn't wildly impressive, more like a simple extension of the cavern at first look, especially through the trails of the storm spirits. However, upon a closer examination you could see the stalagmites and stalactites which made the door look like both the bulkhead of a ship where the whole entryway is smaller than the hallway, and a giant mouth with surrounded with teeth. Either way, not a wildly pleasant sight. I ceased my examination and turned back to Piper.

"You're venti friend's here," I informed her. "Plus six extra. I don't think we'll be able to close the doors unless we take them out." Piper didn't seem happy at this prospect, but pulled out her dagger. I will admit, she was very decent for a daughter of Aphrodite. If we didn't have the whole Jason issue, we might be friends.

"Sneak up on them?" I considered. "But then we don't have a lot of time since they will reconstitute after we vaporize them." I nodded, relieved she'd thought of that because I hadn't (Not that I would tell her).

"I'm willing to bet if we could get rid of Dylan his minions wouldn't stick around," I proposed. "We'll sneak, but we need to both go for Dylan when he doesn't see us so we have an advantage." Piper accepted my theory. I drew my bow, and returned to my spot at the corner where I could see.

"Can you shoot him from here?" Piper hissed in my ear. I nodded. "If we can injure him, it'll be harder to escape." I considered. I sort of wanted to tell her off as I would have had anyone other than Jason attempted to offer advice back home (except for Percy because somehow telling him off just didn't work). But the fact was that Piper was my ally down here, the only one not asleep, and her plan had merit. So I strung my bow with an arrow (not celestial bronze so he wouldn't vaporize on contact), offered my dad a quick prayer, and shot it into Dylan's shoulder.

He howled and clung to his shoulder while the wind spirits abandoned their laid out pattern in favor of zooming around extensively, beginning to turn the cavern into a wind tunnel. Piper and I rushed in towards Dylan, but the wind spirits came at us first.

I lost track of Piper after I rolled out of the way of the first one. I sent an arrow zooming after it, but didn't bother to see if I hit it because I was back on my feet, gladius drawn, and bringing it down on the next to zoom at me.

"Didn't bring Grace to protect you this time?" Dylan must have recovered because he was back to sneering. I didn't turn to look immediately because I was expecting another attack, but the other four wind spirits (while still zooming around and generating gusts that snapped my ponytail back and forth) were continuing to zoom around directly in front of the Door. I deemed them to be a lesser threat and turned to face Dylan, who was in full venti form glaring down at Piper, who stood about a yard away with her dagger.

"That looks sort of nasty," Piper almost cooed (I blinked), gesturing to the arrow which was still sticking out of Dylan's shoulder. "Would you like me to look at it?" Dylan looked almost as confused as I was, but then shook his head.

"Nice try," he replied. "You don't think Gaia forgot about something as trivial as charm speaking, did you?" Then he sent a lightning bolt at Piper, who dodged. I sent another arrow in his direction, but one of the wind spirits blew it away. He turned on me.

"Oh, you're the one who shot me with an arrow," he said. Then I found myself dodging lightning bolts.

"Leave her alone!" I'll admit, I was actually glad to hear Piper's voice.

"Get the wind spirits!" I told her before diving out of the way of the latest bolt.

"No!" Dylan yelled (I assumed Piper managed to vaporize some of them). His distraction was long enough for me to draw my bow and shoot an arrow through his wing. Unfortunately, this failed to vaporize him. I notched another arrow as I heard a growl. I whirled to find a growling hell-hound right behind Piper, who was disarmed (I would assume she had to throw her dagger to get the storm spirit). I contemplated Dylan for a second, then made a split second decision.

"Piper, look out!" I yelled, dropping my bow and rushing to shove the dark-haired girl out of the monster's path. She turned to face me as I reached her and knocked us both out of the way as the hound leapt over us. (Later I need to tell her that you look everywhere but the person who said to look out).

"Thank you both for playing!" Dylan called and I braced myself. There was a blast to my left and Dylan let out some sort of strangled shout. I looked up to see that Dylan was gone and the large black dog was standing over me, wagging its tale and looking like it expected to be rewarded. I groaned as I stood up, receiving a lick from the hell-hound. _TAM fatua sum._

"What happened?" Piper asked from the ground, staring up at me. I grabbed her hand and yanked her up.

"It appears Percy's pet hell-hound woke up," I informed her, half my brain already focusing on how to prepare for Dylan's return. "She scared off Dylan." I was also mentally abusing myself for forgetting the hell-hound was on our side and thus would not be attacking Piper.

WOOF! I turned to face the giant dog who trotted happily over to where the venti had last been. I figured I should at least be happy she prevented him from zapping us as I glanced at the lightning burn a foot to my right.

"Good dog," I acknowledged as she trotted back over. She dropped something at my feet.

"What now?" Piper asked as she approached the opening where the storm spirits continued to fly at the top of the cavern (presumably they were trying to stay away from us). I shrugged as I picked up whatever the hell-hound had retrieved.

"Well, we just need to figure out how to close it before-" I blinked. Mrs. O'Leary had brought back an arrow- the arrow which was lodged in Dylan's shoulder. I looked over to where the storm spirit was standing and noticed it was dustier than the rest of the cavern. I broke into a grin and began scratching the dog's side.

"Good girl," I told her as I scratched. "Very, very good girl."


End file.
